UNICS beat Zenit in the Game of the Week at home— 95:94 (34:34, 19:21, 23:16, 19:23).
The best scorers
UNICS: Jalen Reynolds (26 + 6 rebounds), Vince Hunter (16), Daryl Macon (14), Nenad Dmitrijevic (11 + 10 assists), Louis Labeyrie (10 + 9 rebounds)
Zenit: Thomas Heurtel (21 + 12 assists), Caleb Homesley (18 + 6 rebounds), Thomas Wimbush (16), Sergey Toropov (11)
Game progress
In the Game of the Week, UNICS and Zenit played for the 2nd place in the standings. The 1st game of these teams this season ended with the Kazan team win on the road by 3 points. The St. Petersburg team had a 7-game winning streak before the Game of the Week, and clearly expected to take revenge for October loss.
The first quarter fully met the Game of the Week expectations. Caleb Homesley and Daryl Macon set the pace for the game with three-pointers. The entire quarter was equal: on Homesley and Thomas Heurtel made shots, UNICS responded with by Jalen Reynolds and Vince Hunter game on the paint. The threat from Reynolds was not only in the paint, but also from behind the arc: at the end of the quarter, Jalen and Homesley exchanged with threes and Georgiy Zhbanov and Dmitriy Kulagin in the last seconds summed up an equal first quarter – 34:34.
In the second quarter, the game pace decreased, but not the tension. Daryl Macon already had 3 fouls in the first half and shortly before the end of the second quarter got also a technical foul. The teams focused on combinations, which ended with pick and rolls or two-point shots. And although Zenit managed to keep the lead by the halftime and put the main UNICS player on the bench, the Kazan team demonstrated how they intend to turn the game by dominating front court.
The entire third quarter was under UNICS bigmen domination. Although Velimir Perasovic did not want to put Macon in the game, Jalen Reynolds took on the role of the leader — Richard Solomon clearly could not guard Reynolds and Hunter and Louis Labeyrie stretched Zenit defense by shooting threes. The teams ended the third quarter with UNICS lead by 5 points — for that type of game, it looked like a serious lead.
The key moment
In the fourth quarter, both teams defense gained maximum momentum. Reynolds continued to steadily score points, including three-pointers, but Zenit responded with Richard Solomon who turned on and scored 5 points in a row. However, two minutes before the end, Solomon fouled out and the Kazan team managed to guard Caleb Homesley and Thomas Heurtel.
At the end, UNICS led by 8 points, but Heurtel showed that he did not agree with the game result. Zenit turned on full court defense, made the Kazan team to lose the ball and Heurtel first scored a two-pointer, then gave no look assist to Thomas Wimbush, and completed this segment with three-pointer. 19 seconds before the end, the Kazan team lead almost gone — 93:91.
But UNICS correctly organised last possession, bringing the ball to Macon, who made 2 out of 2 free-throws after a foul by Zenit. The guests responded with Heurtel quick three-pointer, but the shot, as Artem Klimenko shot was missed. And although Zenit still had the ball, Heurtel buzzer three-pointer only summed up the score — 95:94. The Kazan team takes the 2nd place and breaks away from Zenit by a distance of 2 wins.
Hero
Jalen Reynolds. UNICS bigman came off the bench and spent more than 20 minutes on the floor, but literally dominated — he easily played in defense and when the St. Petersburg team closed the paint, he started to score three-pointers (2 out of 5). As a result, Reynolds became the best scoring player of the game (26 points) and the best in efficiency (29 points).
Numbers
48 points from the paint with 66.7% was made by UNICS. Zenit significantly lost to the hosts in this with only 36 points.
What’s next
UNICS: home game against Pari Nizhny Novgorod on December 18.
Zenit: road game versus Avtodor on December 18.
