UNICS defeated VEF on the road in overtime, 86-82 (20-17, 20-23, 20-14, 12-18, 14-10).
Top Scorers
VEF: Mareks Mejeris (17+9 reb), Arnas Labuckas (14+11 reb), Martins Meiers (14), Kristopher Richard (13)
UNICS: Artsiom Parakhouski (16+9 reb), Quino Colom (14+9 ast), Latavious Williams (14+6 reb), Anton Ponkrashov (13)
Build-Up
Thanks to a three-game winning streak, Riga only trailed UNICS by a game and a half entering the contest. Playing at home, VEF needed to win by six points or more to cut the deficit to half a game and pick up the tiebreaker.
Turning Point
With 10 lead changes and seven ties, either team could have come out on top in regulation. Kazan’s Quino Colom had his three-point attempt blocked by Kristopher Richard in the final seconds. Racing the other way, Richard rushed his own shot, launching from halfcourt with three seconds remaining.
Overtime brought more drama. UNICS opened the period on an 8-0 run behind 3-pointers from Quino Colom and Pavel Antipov. Riga responded, pulling within two points, 82-80, with more than a minute on the clock.
Both teams had chances in the final minute… Colom and Anton Ponkrashov both missed a free throw, preserving VEF’s comeback hopes. But Riga could not get a big shot to drop. Janis Blums, who finished with only 11 points on 4-18 shooting, missed a 3-pointer that would have tied it and UNICS went on to win, punctuated by Pavel Antipov’s dunk with five seconds remaining.
UNICS guarantees a top-five finish with the win, while VEF moves on to next Sunday’s showdown for 6th place against Enisey.
Stat
8-8 – UNICS center Artsiom Parakhouski continues to be a force in the paint. After scoring 30 on Avtodor, the Belarusian big man was perfect from the field in Riga, finishing with 16 points and nine rebounds.
Video
VEF vs UNICS one minute highlights 🎥 pic.twitter.com/HJwgl9qsV7
— VTB United League (@VTBUL) April 3, 2017
Quotes
VEF head coach Janis Gailitis:
– We played a good game. The guys battled and we created a lot of problems for UNICS. In the end, we weren’t quite clutch enough in big moments. Despite that, I’m happy with my players. We couldn’t hit our 3-pointers today. It was one of our worst performances this season in that category. At the same time, we exceeded a Euroleague team in a lot of other categories.
UNICS head coach Evgeny Pashutin:
– This was a tough game, like the first meeting in Kazan. We spent a lot of time analyzing and preparing for our opponent. We used double-teams on Janis Blums. We knew how dangerous he is. VEF got a lot of rebounds on offense, which is why they were successful against us. If we had been better under the basket, we could have put the game away earlier. The opposition is very good in the VTB League and we need to work really hard if we want to move up to 4th place.
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Up Next
VEF: April 9 at Enisey
UNICS: April 10 vs. Lokomotiv-Kuban
