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Main team news

08.05.2023

Here it is – the power and strength of the Basket Hall in action! UNICS, with the incredible support of the fans, discouraged Lokomotiv-Kuban with a 12:1 spurt in the last minutes and pulled out the hardest match, equalizing the score in the final to 4 wins – 1-1! Kazan lost 63:73 by the middle of the final quarter and «-8» a little more than 3 minutes before the buzzer (67:75), but they did not give up and, thanks to the selfless defense, took the most important victory – 79:76!

Now the series is moving to Krasnodar, where on May 11 we are waiting for the 3rd episode of the exciting battle for the VTB United League championship title.

VTB United League. The final. Match No. 2.
UNICS – Locomotive-Kuban 79:76 (24:19, 14:27, 20:16, 21:14).
UNICS: Reynolds (19 + 7 steals + 5 rebounds), Knight (17), Labeyrie (15 + 10 rebounds), Dimitrijevic (15).
Lokomotiv-Kuban: Akun-Purcell (17), Horton (14 + 7 rebounds), White (10 + 8 rebounds).
The score in the series up to 4 wins: 1-1.

POSTGAME COMMENTS:

Velimir PERASOVIC, BC UNICS head coach:

«First of all, I congratulate my players on the victory. Today we fought throughout the match. At the same time, I think that we did not play in the best way. For most of the match, the opponent controlled the game, but we did not give up. We made a lot of mistakes and were nervous, but in the end we began to defend harder. We made 17 steals and 17 rebounds under on offensive board, which became a key success factor. Today we won a very important victory and equalized the score in the series. Our opponents prove their high level and demonstrate why they managed to beat such a strong team as CSKA in the semifinals».

Louis LABEYRIE, BC UNICS forward:

«It was a very interesting and intense match. We really appreciate such incredible support from our fans, which helped us win today. In the last quarter, we rebuilt our defensive actions, began to defend aggressively and managed to turn the game around due to this».

Alexander SEKULIC, BC Lokomotiv-Kuban head coach:

«Congratulations to UNICS on the victory. We knew that we were playing against a great team led by a great coach. We controlled the match and confidently led the score four minutes before the end. I don't know what happened to us in these last minutes. In any case, we made too many turnovers today: 22 is a terrible indicator. The opponents showed themselves well on the board, especially in the key moments of the match. The rebound that Vince Hunter took under our board was decisive».