UNICS beats Enisey at home — 97:77 (36:23, 23:21, 19:14, 19:19).
The best scorers
UNICS: John Brown III (25), Mario Hezonja (14), Artem Komolov (12).
Enisey: Rion Brown (17 + 7 rebounds), Ivan Viktorov (10), Timofey Yakushin (9).
Game progress
The teams immediately bet on offensive basketball. In the 1st quarter, the opponents missed only 8 shots from the game. At the same time, the hosts took the lead in the game. The key factors of their success were John Brown III courage, who scored 13 points. After the Krasnoyarsk team turnovers, UNICS scored 16 points (Enisey scored 0). All this resulted in a double-digit lead at the end of the 1st quarter – 36:23.
Bright basketball got its continuation in the 2nd quarter. Shots exchange was won by the hosts. TheKazan team confidently held a comfortable lead in the score, and by the halftime they retained a double-digit lead – 59:44. Moreover, the 59 points they scored became the team’s best in the 1st half.
John Brown III's season-high – 20 PTS
John Brown III today in 1st half vs Enisey – 20 PTS🤪
— VTB League (@VTBUL) February 13, 2022
At the start of the 3rd quarter, the Siberians’ zone defense confused UNICS for a while. But the Kazan team quickly recovered. Long-range shots by Isaiah Canaan, John Brown and Mario Hezonja formed the basis for another mini-run. Before the last quarter, UNICS led by 20 points – 78:58.
A comfortable gap in the score allowed the Velimir Perasovic to experiment with the squad. The Russian players spent most of the last quarter on the floor. But even this did not bring intrigue to the game. The hosts confidently controlled the game and brought it to a confident win.
Hero
John Brown III became the brightest player of this game. The forward made 10 of 12 shots from the field, scored 25 points and repeated personal best in the VTB League. In addition, for the first time in his career in the VTB League, the American scored from behind the arc, and he did it 3 times (3-pointers made – 3 out of 3).
Numbers
16 – the Kazan team updated the team’s season high for 3-pointers made in 1 game.
Comments
Velimir Perasovic, UNICS Head Coach:
– Today was an extremely important game for us from a psychological point of view after the loss in the game with Crvena Zvezda in the Euroleague. We wanted to get back on the winning path. I am glad that we succeeded. We started the game effectively, scored a lot of points in the first half. But we would not like to engage in a shootout with an opponent. As soon as we began to defend better, we broke away in the score and predetermined the outcome of the game. Our reservists did a good job today. After a long absence of playing practice, they showed high-quality basketball. We tried different combinations of players, which is extremely important for us.
Pavel Dergachev, Enisey Coach:
– It is impossible to win against a Euroleague team by committing 20 turnovers. They cost us at least 30 points. In addition, John Brown III was on fire today. We managed to cope with only one task – not to allow UNICS to collect more than 5-10 offensive rebounds, because we know that theKazan team is one of the best in the VTB League in rebounds.
What’s next
UNICS: road game against Enisey on February 17.
Enisey: home game versus Lokomotiv Kuban on March 5.
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