For the fourth time in the season, we beat MBA!

Main team news

12.03.2023

39 points for two Daryl MACON and Louis LABEYRIE helped UNICS to win over MBA with a score of 73:58 in the final home match of the «regular season» and secure second place in the VTB United League table.

Velimir Perasovic's team marked dominance from the first minutes, starting with a spurt of 10:2 and achieving a double-digit lead already at the end of the first quarter. In the remaining time, the white-greens kept the guests at a safe distance, and by the buzzer they had developed the advantage to the maximum «+15».

Effective basketball was demonstrated by Daryl MACON, who has 20 points (4/5 from behind the arc) and 3 rebounds. Louis LABEYRIE added 19 points with 6 rebounds. Vince HUNTER scored 12 points and 5 rebounds. Neno DIMITRIJEVIC conducted the partners, distributing 10 assists.

UNICS has two final regular season matches ahead in Krasnodar and St. Petersburg.

UNICS (Kazan) – MBA (Moscow) – 73:58 (18:8, 16:17, 17:16, 22:17).
UNICS: Macon (20), Labeyrie (19+6 rebounds), Hunter (12+5 rebounds)
MBA: Lopatin (13+4 rebounds), Konovalov (9+4 rebounds), Klyuev (8+2 rebounds).

POSTGAME COMMENTS:

Velimir PERASOVIC, BC UNICS head coach:

«It was extremely important for us to get back on the winning path after three defeats. Unfortunately, today we didn't play as well on offense as we wanted. On the other hand, we showed solid defense, which brought the result. Of course, as a coach, I'm happy about it. But we also need to improve our attacking actions, because the decisive part of the season is ahead».

Daryl MACON, BC UNICS guard:

«We needed to win to regain confidence. I admit, I wasn't too worried about the recent defeats, because before that we played well all season and gave out long winning streaks. In basketball, sometimes it happens that a team loses several matches in a row. The main thing is to draw the right conclusions and move on.
Today we showed high-quality team basketball and defended well. This is one of our best matches in recent times. Before the playoffs, it's important for us to get back to our game.
I always try to extract positivity even from failures. Perhaps those defeats turned out to be useful for us and made it clear to the team that it is impossible to achieve success without attitude and dedication. I think everything will get better from now on».

Mikhail KULAGIN, BC UNICS guard:

«It was very important for us to win today. After several defeats, this victory is vital to regain self-confidence. There are only two matches left before the end of the regular season. We will make every effort to gain the victories in these meetings and approach the start of the playoffs in a good mood».

Vasily KARASEV, BC MBA head coach:

«We got off to a bad start. We have no right to start matches this way. At the beginning, we made 7 turnovers, and we were able to score the first points only in the 6th minute. This, in the end, predetermined the result. Of course, losses put pressure on us. Perhaps from the first minutes we didn't have the proper mood. In the future, it is extremely difficult to reverse the course of the game against a team of such a high level as UNICS. I think it is important for us to try to show high-quality basketball, and victories will come».