UNICS Kazan, Russia vs. «Lokomotiv-Kuban» Krasnodar, Russia

This thriller has become the first Russian semi-final match of the Final Four in Vilnius. As a result, UNICS Kazan snatched the victory from Krasnodar Lokomotiv-Kuban during the last seconds - 87:86 and became the first finalist of VTB United League championship.

The Beginning of the first semifinal match of the Final Four became very effective as players from both teams showed a good game. Roderick Blakney gave assists, Henry Domercant and Sergey Bykov made accurate shots.

So the teams showed spectacular basketball. Nathan Jawai did block shots, gave assists on reactive Bykov, who scored or threw the ball on the three-point line - Kuban players had a great tool against zone defense of UNICS - three-pointers. Blakney realized all 5 attempts out of 5, and the whole team - 10 out of 21 by the beginning of the fourth 10-minute! And the team left the court for the last break having «+4» points advantage.

However UNICS and Domercant were not going to give up without a fight. The American sniper (17 points in a quarter of the 25 team!) Once again led UNICS forward making another accurate shot, and then Alexey Savrasenko increased the gap - 83:79 Two minutes before the end.

But 25 seconds before the final siren having «+2» the potential MVP of the match Domercant ... failed to score both free throws and in response Rivers scored the15th three-pointer  of Loko in the match - 85:86  6.4 seconds before the end! It is unclear why Bozidar Malсovic took timeout after Pashutin -. After all, in the next attack Domercant brilliantly scored from the average distance (the scoreboard showed two seconds remained), the Slovene was unable to throw the ball on another side. And Kelvin Rivers had to throw.

UNICS victory in the Russian thriller - 87:86. The most productive in Kazan team became Henry Domercant (30 points) and Terrell Lyday (15), in Krasnodar team - Roderick Blakney (22 points), Kelvin Rivers and Sergey Bykov scored 17 points each.

- First of all, I want to congratulate all my players on victory - said the head coach of UNICS Evgeny Pashutin. - We expected the match to be difficult because Lokomotiv-Kuban - is a serious team, which recently showed a good basketball and managed to force a stubborn fight against CSKA. The opponent’s team has a lot of good snipers; they showed it today, attacking from behind the arc with crazy percent. We were ready for that, played in defense and tried to neutralize their leaders. The boys put all strength to win. Semifinal games are of great importance in such tournaments. Of course, it is even harder to play in the finals, but the fact that it was elimination game confused us in the first quarter. Basketball players have experienced psychological pressure.

- It is Always a shame to lose in the last seconds, but that's basketball life, - said the head coach of Lokomotiv-Kuban Bozidar Malcovic. - This team should continue to work. It is a new team, and the establishment of a normal team requires minimum two- three years. And again I should say that it is simply impossible to play in major tournaments with such a schedule. But PBL made a decision not in our favor and refused to postpone the second game of semifinal series against CSKA. Nevertheless, even in such conditions when we had one or two days to prepare for the fight Lokomotiv-Kuban today had a good chance. The team played great in defense but in the end allowed the rivals to win two consecutive selections and a missed three-pointer. This segment was crucial in the match.