CSKA Moscow, Russia vs. UNICS Kazan, Russia

CSKA Moscow defeated UNICS Kazan at home on Monday night, 81-70. The Army Men immediately took control in this one, leading by 25 points in the first half. Kazan cut into the deficit late after CSKA brought in several reserves, but never threatened to alter the outcome. The Army Men improve to 6-1, while UNICS drops to 5-2.

Recap
Tied for 2nd entering the game, Monday's showdown featured two of the league's top teams. There were also several personal connections: Kazan head coach Evgeny Pashutin formerly played and coached at CSKA, while Anton Ponkrashov and Valery Likhodei also suited up for the Army Men in the past.

Led by Aaron Jackson, the Muscovites opened up an early 9-0 lead, forcing Pashutin to call a timeout. Unfortunately for the visitors, little changed in the 1st quarter.

Milos Teodosic kept the ball moving on offense, finding Andrey Vorontsevich open on the perimeter for three 3-pointers. The Serbian point guard also knocked down a few shots of his own, helping CSKA to a 30-15 advantage late in the period.

It only got worse for UNICS in the second period as CSKA scored the first eight points to open up a 38-17 lead. Shut down on offense (Kazan scored just 12 points in the 2nd quarter), the visitors faced a 25-point deficit at halftime, 54-29.

Despite holding the Army Men to 17 points in the 3rd quarter, UNICS fell even further behind, trailing by 28 entering the final period.

Once Dimitris Itoudis brought in some of the reserves, Anton Ponkrashov and Quino Colom helped UNICS cut CSKA's lead to 11 at the end of the 4th quarter, salvaging an otherwise disappointing road trip to Moscow. CSKA wins, 81-70, and moves all alone into 2nd place with a 6-1 record.

Star of the Game
Milos Teodosic. The Serbian guard was terrific in the first half, dishing out six assists and scoring eight points to give his team an insurmountable lead.

Stat of the Game
31 - CSKA's largest lead in the game.

Quotes
CSKA head coach Dimitris Itoudis:
- Congratulations to my team. They played excellent basketball for three quarters, though the tempo and desire perhaps wasn't there in the 4th. I really liked how the players reacted to the loss to Unicaja and literally dominated on the court. As I said before the game, the key to success was our defense. We defended well, led 54-29 at halftime and forced our opponent to commit a lot of turnovers. After that, my main concern was spreading out playing time and getting some rest to those who've been playing a lot. In the end, no one played more than 24 minutes.

UNICS head coach Evgeny Pashutin:
- We were passive early on defense and allowed our opponent to take a lot of open shots. Their snipers, Higgins and Vorontsevich, took advantage. We were constantly late and reacted to what was happening. We allowed CSKA to lead 11-0 and get confident. We gave them the initiative. Over two quarters, we hardly played any defense. We were behind on one-on-one situations, pick-and-rolls, during switches. CSKA was just faster. The outcome of the game was pretty much decided in the 3rd quarter. Only then did we start playing better defense and bodying up. The defense began to resemble what it should look like. We still missed a lot of our shots, however. This game was a lesson for us. We'll learn from it and play better.

Stats