UNICS Kazan, Russia vs. «Kalev» Tallinn, Estonia

UNICS defeated Kalev at home, 96-75. UNICS blew the game open early, riding an excellent bench performance to a big halftime lead. Leading by 28 points through 20 minutes, Kazan cruised to a win in the second half.

Recap
UNICS has taken care of business in recent weeks, improving to 3rd place in the standings. On Sunday, Kazan had a chance to cement its top-3 position and become the 2nd team to win eight games.

Kalev matched UNICS over the first five minutes, leading 12-11 midway through the opening period. But the visitors had no answers in the remaining 15 minutes of the first half, getting outscored 43-14. Artsiom Parakhouski dominated in the paint, while Arturas Milaknis came off the bench to knock down some big shots. Kazan enjoyed a 54-26 lead at the break.

Kazan led by more than 30 at several points in the second half. Despite getting outscored by nine in the 4th quarter, the outcome was never in doubt for UNICS. The Tatar club improves to 8-2, half a game behind 1st-place CSKA. Kalev drops to 3-6, 12th in the standings.

Star Player
Keith Langford. No surprise here. Langford led UNICS with 17 points in 24 minutes on the court, shooting 50% from the field, to go with five rebounds and three assists.

Stat of the Game
45-11 - the home team enjoyed a big advantage in bench scoring.

Quotes
UNICS head coach Evgeny Pashutin:
- We were very serious about this game. We played good, efficient basketball. We didn't lose our concentration and defended well, not allowing our opponents to get open looks. We're getting better. It'd be great to play like that on defense in upcoming games against Buducnost and Lokomotiv-Kuban.

Kalev head coach Alar Varrak:
- UNICS is a very good team. They are playing extremely well right now, knocking off Khimki and Nizhny Novgorod. We knew that we'd have a tough time in Kazan and that's what happened. There were some positives: we didn't give up and battled until the end.

Stats

Snapshot