UNICS beat Zielona Gora in Poland – 85:80 (15:22, 21:29, 25:16, 24:13).
The best scorers
Zielona Gora: Dragan Apic (20, 12 rebounds), Tony Meyer (13) Nemanja Nenadic (11), David Brambley (11).
UNICS: John Brown III (20 + 9 rebounds + 5 assists), Mario Hezonja (19 + 6 rebounds), Isaiah Canaan (17), Lorenzo Brown (12 + 7 rebounds + 6 assists).
Game progress
UNICS (9-2) arrived in Poland as the leader of the standings. Zielona Gora (1-9) came to the Green Derby on the last place with the 5-game losing streak.
The first minutes of the opening quarter passed with a hosts’ advantage. Devo Joseph started Gora’s lead, and then Nemanja Nenadic and Dragan Apic joined the process. The opponent’s active game forced Velimir Perasovic to take a timeout already in the quarter opening. A minute’s pause was good for his team. The Kazan team sharply increased the pace, shifting the focus to score in the early offensive possesions, and they made a 9-point run. However, they failed to lead. The Polish team gave out a shock ending of the quarter and went to the first break as leaders – 22:15.
At the beginning of the 2nd quarter, the teams showed chaotic basketball. In such a game, Zielona Gora looked more confident: by the middle of the quarter, the lead had become double-digit – 35:22. The dominance did not stop there. With the total advantage under rims, the hosts systematically increased the advantage, which at some point reached 19 points. In the time remaining before the halftime, UNICS and especially Isaiah Canaan tried to comeback, butTony Meyer and Jaroslaw Zyskowski actions helped Gora to keep a comfortable lead – 51:36.
🔥 Dragan Apic ends 1st Half vs UNICS (51:36) with 12 points & 7 rebounds!
Watch 2nd half LIVE on https://t.co/yV5SuibzOt 📺 pic.twitter.com/8u2kPESXkE
— VTB League (@VTBUL) January 23, 2022
In the 3rd quarter, the pace of the game and the effectiveness did not decrease at all. The guests exploded with two 3-pointers performed by Canaan and Vorontsevich, which gave them hope for a comeback. And soon Browns duo punished Zielona Gora, who lost the rhythm with five points in a row and allowed UNICS to reduce the gap to an acceptable 6points before the final quarter.
Throughout almost the entire 4th quarter, the Kazan team tried to reverse the game, but with hot Dragan Apic efforts, Gora managed to keep the opponent at 5-8 points distance.
The key moment
In the end, the hosts’ possesions, against the background of several turnovers and missed shots, began to fail, which allowed UNICS to make another run and take the lead 1:40 before the end – 80:78. The key was the Polish team’s final posession. 12 seconds before the end of the game, the guests were only 3 points ahead, but both 3-point shots by Nemanja Nenadic and Tony Meyer were out. The final point in this game was made by Tonye Jekiri with two free-throws made – 85:80. UNICS wins a strong-willed win and is stayed in the 1st place in the standings.
Hero
John Brown III. UNICS forward was again the most active player of the team on both sides of the court. The American scored 20 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals in almost 36 minutes.
Numbers
19 points – this gap was reagained by UNICS during the game. In the 4th quarter, the Kazan team cameback from trailing by 10.
Comments
Oliver Vidin, Zielona Gora Head Coach:
– We started the game good, we played solid basketball for 25 minutes, later we couldn’t answer agresiveness of our opponent. We didn’t use opportunity to hit from outside and then scored few three pointers and that costed us a game.
Velimir Perasovic, UNICS Head coach:
– Congratulations to my players for winning this game after losing by 20 points, but also congratulations to Zielona Góra, they were better than us in big part of the game. We showed character finally, but we were without energy and speed in the first half and that is something that we need to work on.
What’s next
Zielona Gora: home game against Astana on January 31
UNICS: road game against CSKA on February 7
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