By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Crvena Zvezda made a 3-15 run in five minutes during the fourth period to escape Kazan with a big 84 – 77 win over Unics. It was some form of revenge for the Serbian side that had lost the first-leg game in Belgrade 78 – 98.
Nikola Kalinic scored 20 points and dished out six assists while Nate Wolters finished with 19 points to lead Zvezda’s efforts. They both combined for some important plays during the decisive dominant stretch of their team in the final minutes.
“I feel great! A big win for us to get back on track after two losses,” Kalinic said. “And also UNICS killed us, they blew us out in Belgrade, so we wanted also to show that they are not so much better than us. They beat us over there by 20-something points, so this is a very good win for us. We are going to try to get back on track, and if things go good, we will try to reach the playoffs.”
Wolters put Zvezda up 71 – 75 and then Kalinic hit a tough jumper after a Mario Hezonja 3-pointer to push Unics back at 74 – 80. In a key sequence, Hezonja misfired from the 3-point line while on the other end Wolters sank the layup in front of big man Tonye Jekiri to put Red Star up 74 – 82 with 57 seconds to play.
Aaron White then dunked the ball in transition for a double-digit advantage and the icing on Zvezda’s victory.
Hezonja had 18 points on 4-7 triples and grabbed nine rebounds. Marco Spissu added 17 points on 5-6 threes and John Brown added 13 points plus six rebounds for an Unics team that was without star guard Lorenzo Brown (back spasm).
“Lorenzo Brown is an important player for us for sure,” Unics coach Velimir Perasovic said. “But today was not with the team and other players also had an opportunity to win the game and they didn’t win it.”
Zvezda is now 9 – 14 while Unics dropped to 13-11.
A near-perfect final period
Crvena Zvezda coach Dejan Radonjic was naturally pleased with how his players executed on both ends in the fourth period by pulling off stops and making them count on offense.
“First of all, congrats to my players for the win,” Radonjic said. “It was a good game for us; we played good tonight. In this moment, for us, after so many problems, we had a big win and because of that, it is also very important. Our beginning of the game was good, defensively very good. In the second quarter, we had many problems with them making a lot of shots. Their three-point percentage was excellent. In the third quarter, they also played well but in the last 10 minutes, we were defensively excellent and our offense was very smart. In the end, like I said, a big win in this moment for us and at the same time, important for us.”