UNICS beat PARMA-PARI on the road in overtime and extended the winning streak to 6 games – 89:82 OT (16:19, 21:14, 17:21, 20:20, 15:8).
Game progress
PARMA-PARI (8-11) and UNICS (17-2) came to the game on the 7th and 2nd places. The Kazan team had a 5-win game winning streak, the Perm team won 3 out of 4 last games.
UNICS was a favourite, but most of the first half PARMA-PARI had the lead, Justin Roberson and Isaiah Reese duo helped the team. And yet, the the Kazan team showed class: Louis Labeyrie, Jalen Reynolds and Georgiy Zhbanov made a 15:0 run in the middle of the second quarter and this allowed to lead after the first half – 37:33.
In the second half, the Perm team still played with the same pressure. PARMA with the help of the home crowd and Isaiah Reese had a bright and emotional quarter. In the last minute, Gleb Sheiko and Daryl Macon exchanged three-pointers – 54:54 before the fourth quarter.
Key moment
UNICS had chances to win in the regulation, but PARMA-PARI heroically stood and Reese made 1 out of 2 free-throws 14 seconds before the end. But the Perm team didn’t have enough strength for overtime. The Kazan team started the OT with Jalen Reynolds 6 points in a row and controlled the difference till the end.
PARMA-PARI lost its chances of getting into the Top 6 after the loss. Thus, two groups of the second stage have already been known.
Key factor
PARMA-PARI sold 6200 tickets for the game. The Kazan team said before the game about difficulty to play in Perm. The game crowd energy helped the hosts to play until the end against one of the main favorites of the season.
Fact
The rivalry history score is 11-2. In Perm, PARMA-PARI beat the Kazan team only once in 2018 (68:66). The last time PARMA-PARI took the lead in the rivalry history more than 3 years ago – on April 18, 2019 in Kazan (82:76).
Leaders
PARMA-PARI: Justin Roberson (23), Isaiah Reese (20 + 7 rebounds + 7 assists), Malik Dime (13 + 7 rebounds + 4 blocks).
UNICS: Jalen Reynolds (18 + 8 rebounds), Nenad Dimitrijevic (18), Louis Labeyrie (15 + 9 rebounds), Daryl Macon (15 + 7 assists).
Next games
PARMA-PARI: road game versus Pari Nizhny Novgorod on January 15
UNICS: road game against Samara on January 16
