With the head held high

Youth team news

10.04.2023

UNICS-2 finishes the season of the VTB United Youth League at the quarterfinals stage, losing in a hard-fought three-match series to the winner of the regular season and one of the favorites of the Moscow MBA-2 – 1-2 (71:66, 66:83, 53:63).

Andrey Kibenko's team took 8th place according to the results of the regular season, but this did not prevent it from inflicting a sensational defeat on the first-seeded MBA-2 (71:66) on April 4 in its native court and opening the score in the series – 1-0.

3 days later, the winners of the regular season on the home court in Moscow took revenge against UNICS-2 with a score of 83:66 (Polstyanov 23 + 5 assists) and restored parity in the quarterfinals – 1-1.

The winner of the final ticket to the Final Four was determined on April 8 in the decisive, 3rd match of the series. The starting ten minutes remained for our guys (15:14) thanks to 8 points by Polstyanov. By the big break, the advantage of the favorite was only 2 points – 29:27.

Naumov's long-range hit in the middle of the 3rd quarter put the visitors ahead for the last time – 33:34. Unfortunately, MBA-2 reacted with a spurt of 12 points in a row and ran away by a double-digit distance (45:34), which Andrey Kibenko's wards could not win back. The final score is 63:53 in favor of the winner of the regular season.

Sergey POLSTYANOV became the best player of UNICS-2 in the final match of the season again, with 25 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals in 38:44 minutes. The 20-year-old guard of the white–greens is the best sniper of the VTB United Youth League (averaging 19.1 points in 46 games) and the most effective basketball player of the championship (19.4).

Despite the defeat, the Kazan youth team more than adequately completes the season. UNICS-2 turned out to be the only team from among those who took lower places in the regular season, who managed to win at least one match over the favorite in the quarterfinals.