We return with «-14», but lose with the last throw

Main team news

09.11.2023

UNICS suffered its first home defeat this season, losing in a dramatic ending to the neighbors in the standings Moscow Runa – 83:86. Velimir Perasovic's team lost with a double-digit difference (71:81) 2:20 before the buzzer, but showed champion character and turned -«10» into «-2». However, there was not enough time to put the squeeze on the ambitious debutants.

The captain of the white-green Vyacheslav Zaitcev threw for a draw from the center of the court with a buzzer, but the ball passed millimeters from the ring. The hosts were let down by 17 losses and poor realization of long–range hits - only 4 of our guys' 28 three-point attempts reached the goal (14%). The most productive members of UNICS were Neno DIMITRIJEVIC (23 + 6 assists + 6 rebounds), Jalen REYNOLDS (16 + 8 rebounds + 3 blocked shots) and Marcos KNIGHT (15 + 4 rebounds + 4 steals). Louis LABEYRIE scored a double-double of 11 points with 12 rebounds.

UNICS (Kazan) – Runa (Moscow) – 83:86 (20:23, 15:17, 21:23, 27:23).
UNICS: Dimitrijevic (23+6 rebounds+6 assists+3 steals), Reynolds (16+8 rebounds+3 blocked shots), Knight (15+4 rebounds), Labeyrie (11+12 rebounds+2 blocked shots).
Runa: Tayus (14+9 rebounds), Hill (13+9 assists), Radanov (12+6 rebounds), Morgan (12+9 rebounds), Savin (10).

Velimir Perasovic's team will play its next match of the VTB United League regular season on Sunday, November 12, in Perm against Parma.

POST-MATCH COMMENTS:

Velimir PERASOVIC, BC UNICS head coach:

«First of all, congratulations to Runa. They deserved this victory from the very beginning. After we led 7:2, the guests responded with a spurt of 13:0. This moment clearly set the further vector of the match. Runa played seriously and toughly. And we thought that we could win only by scoring points. In the first half, they «killed» us with offensive rebounds. The game was equal. But you can't expect to win when you let your opponent pick up balls under your basket so often and make 17 losses per match.

After that, we wanted and tried to get back into the game, took control of our basket. At the same time, we acted very nervously, played badly in attack, could not get in any way. Our three–point percentage was terrible - 14%. In the last minute we were lucky to score a few long-range attempts. Otherwise, we would certainly have set an anti-record».

Vyacheslav ZAITCEV, BC UNICS guard:

«Runa started the match well and defended well against us. They ran into fast breaks and scored easy points, thanks to which they broke away in the score. The guests won the rebounds and didn't let us get close to them until the last minute. In the end, due to the pressure, we managed to get closer to the Runa by the distance of the throw. But, unfortunately, we could not finish the chase with a victory».