The champion soaked the score in the semifinals

Main team news

21.04.2023

After 5 wins in a row, obtained at the playoff stage, UNICS was defeated on the road by Zenit with a score of 71:83, despite 36 points for two Vince HUNTER and Daryl MACON.

Our team made twice as many losses (19 to 10) and missed a 7-point run of the reigning champions of the VTB United League at the start of the final quarter, which turned out to be fatal.

Despite the misfire, UNICS still leads the semi-final series to 4 wins with a score of 2-1 and retains the advantage of home flour.

VTB United League. Semi-final. Match No. 3.
Zenit (Saint Petersburg) – UNICS (Kazan) – 83:71 (18:16,17:17,21:20,27:18 ).
Zenit: Huertel (16 + 8 assists), Frazier (16), Moerman (11 + 12 rebounds)
UNICS: Hunter (20 + 6 rebounds), Macon (16 + 3 rebounds + 2 assists), Dimitrijevic (11 + 7 assists + 4 rebounds)
Score in the series: 2-1 in favor of UNICS.

The fourth game of the semi-final with the score 2-1 in favor of UNICS will take place again in St. Petersburg on Sunday, April 23.

POSTGAME COMMENTS:

Velimir PERASOVIC, BC UNICS head coach:

«Congratulations to Zenit on a well-deserved victory. The score in the series has been reduced to 2-1. Now we need to prepare better for the next match. Today, the key moment was the home team's 14:2 spurt at the beginning of the final quarter. They scored some hard shots, but at the same time we ourselves made bad decisions on offense. We will analyze the mistakes and try not to repeat them».

Andrey VORONTSEVICH, BC UNICS forward:

«Today we missed a lot of free throws and made a lot of mistakes, which led to defeat. If Zenit had punished us for each of the 19 losses committed, we could have conceded with a bigger difference.

Why did they allow the opponents to break away in the score at the beginning of the fourth quarter? We didn't allow it, but they took it themselves. The fans supported the hosts and gave them energy both with every goal scored and with every successful defense. Somewhere we also got tired, hurried in our attacks. We made 3-4 losses in a row, which turned out to be fatal against a team of such a level as Zenit. In this segment, we allowed the hosts to score several open shots, after which they felt the taste of victory».