By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Unics Kazan (22-4) was incredibly close to suffering an upset in the hands of Kalev Tallin (7-18) but found two “bodyguards” that protected their team when it mattered and got the win in overtime. Anton Ponkrashov and Keith Langford combined for 60 out of the 88 points that Unics scored, while they also dished more than half of their team’s total number of assists (10 from 18).
While Ponkrashov flirted with the triple-double, having enormous impact on both ends of court, the American combo guard also dropped the bucket that forced the extra period. He proceeded to add 9 more points to his statistics’ sheet and keep his team safe until the end.
Letting a 25-point advantage slip by its hands,a two-faced Khimki Moscow (18-8) played with fire against Zenit (16-6), but didn’t get burned in the end. The hosts were ahead of the score 60 – 35 in the beginning of the second half, but their opponents erased it almost in the blink of an eye, making it 73 – 72, 8 minutes before the end of the game. Shved and Koponen took the initiative and stopped the suicide that their team was about to commit.
VTB League 2015/2016 – March 28th
Kalev Tallinn – Unics Kazan (Anton Ponkrashov 30 p. 10 r. 7 a.): 84 – 89 (OT)
Khimki Moscow (Alexey Shved 23 p. 5 a.) – Zenit St. Petersburg: 90 – 84