For the first time in the season UNICS lost to Zenit

Main team news

05.04.2024

For the first time in the season, UNICS was defeated by Zenit St. Petersburg in the away match of the week (87:91).

At 3:50 before the end of the second quarter, the hosts managed to achieve a two-fold advantage thanks to an 8-0 spurt (46:35). However, the guests' 11-2 spurt put Kazan in the lead already – 57:51 for 4:06 before the final break.

The start of the decisive ten minutes was held in the swing mode. For the last time, the white-greens came out ahead thanks to a long–range hit by Mikhail BELENITSKY - 76:75. But the subsequent acceleration of the blue-white-blue 11-2 created a comfortable advantage for Zenit – 87:78, which the Kazan guys failed to win back. Zenit defeated UNICS for the first time this season – 91:87.

The most productive member of the guests was Neno DIMITRIJEVIC, who stopped a step away from a double-double (24 + 9 assists + 5 rebounds). Jalen REYNOLDS scored 20 points and added 4 rebounds. One rebound was not enough for Ismael BAKO to reach a double-double. The UNICS center has 13 points and 9 rebounds. Erick GREEN brought 12 more points to the team. Mikhail BELENITSKY scored 10 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.

Zenit (Saint Petersburg) – UNICS (Kazan) – 91:87 (27:24, 21:22, 18:19, 25:22).
Zenit: Huertel (23 + 4 assists + 3 rebounds), Frazier (18 + 3 assists), Hunter (17 + 3 rebounds), Kuric (15).
UNICS: Dimitrijevic (24 + 9 assists + 5 rebounds), Reynolds (20 + 4 rebounds), Baco (13 + 9 rebounds + 5 assists), Green (12 + 2 rebounds), Belenitsky (10 + 4 rebounds + 2 assists).

UNICS will play its final match of the regular season on the floor of the Basket Hall on Saturday, April 13, against CSKA Moscow.

POST-MATCH COMMENTS:

Velimir PERASOVIC, BC UNICS head coach:

«Congratulations to Zenit on a deserved victory. In the decisive part of the match, they were more focused and played better. In general, I rate today's game of the UNICS newcomers positively, because they joined us only yesterday. I think they helped us in the difficult situation we found ourselves in due to injuries. I hope that after a while the contribution of Andrey Vorontsevich and Mikhail Belenitsky will be more significant. We expect injured basketball players to be back by the playoff stage».