UNICS Kazan vs. Mornar Bar - Game - Welcome to 7DAYS EuroCup

2018-19Regular SeasonRound 6

November 07, 2018 CET: 17:00

Local time: 19:00 BASKET HALL KAZAN

UNICS beats Mornar, reaches Top 16

UNICS Kazan became the first team to mathematically qualify for the 7DAYS EuroCup Top 16 by downing Mornar Bar 90-73 at home on Wednesday. UNICS improved to 5-1 and got its second win against Mornar, which dropped to 1-5. Raymar Morgan led the winners with 22 points on 10-of-12 two-point shooting. Jamar Smith added 13 while Trent Lockett, Errick McCollum and Anton Ponkrashov each scored 12 for UNICS. Uros Lukovic led Mornar with 19 points on 8-of-8 two-point shooting and 12 rebounds. Djordje Drenovac added 11 points and Nemanja Vranes 10 for the visitors.

Drenovac and Antabia Waller shined early to give Mornar a 4-6 lead. The visitors entered the foul bonus and UNICS took full advantage of that - Morgan led a 10-0 run that he capped with free throws for a 14-6 score. Vukota Pavic stepped up for Mornar, but Smith and Ponkrashov each struck from downtown and a tip-in by Maurice Ndour made it a double-digit game, 23-12, after 10 minutes. Morgan stayed unstoppable in the second quarter, getting help from Ponkrashov and Lockett to break the game open at 40-21. Mornar called timeout, but McCollum kept UNICS way ahead, 50-33, at halftime. Lukovic and Waller gave the visitors hope, 52-40, soon after the break. UNICS found a go-to guy in Evgeny Koleshinkov and a layup by Smith broke the game open, 62-42. Smith kept pacing the hosts, as UNICS reached a 25-point margin after 30 minutes. Nothing changed after that, as even through Mornar kept trying and reduced its deficit in the final minutes, UNICS was well on its way to another win that took the team to the next round.

Pivotal performer

Morgan needed just 13 first-half minutes to score 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting inside the arc and 2 of 2 free throws, allowing UNICS to take a 17-point halftime lead. He finished the game with 22 points and a performance index rating of 24.

Game-changing moment

Mornar stayed in the game for 14 minutes, 27-18, until Morgan returned to the floor. He had 8 quick points, getting help from Lockett and Ponkrashov to boost the hosts' lead to 40-21. UNICS kept full control of the situation until the final buzzer.

Stellar stat

Free throws were one of the key factors in this game - UNICS hit 22 of 25 (88%) and Mornar just 10 of 18 (55.6%). UNICS had 14 steals, tying its second-best mark in the competition. It had 16 steals in a regular season game against Banvit Bandirma on December 21, 2010.

Did you notice?

UNICS has played past the regular season in all of its 11 full seasons in the competition - it joined the competition in the Top 16 once it was eliminated from the 2014-15 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. With this win, UNICS has a 71-19 record. Herbalife Gran Canaria, Valencia Basket and UNICS are tied for most regular season wins in competition history with 71.

Next game:

Both teams return to EuroCup action next week. UNICS visits Rytas Vilnius on Tuesday, November 13 at 18:00 CET. Mornar hosts Fiat Turin on Wednesday, November 14 at 19:00 CET.

Raymar Morgan - UNICS Kazan (photo UNICS) - EC18

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Eurocupbasketball.com

Referees: SHEMMESH, SEFFI; BISSANG, JOSEPH; SUKYS, ARTURAS

Attendance: 2368

By Quarter	1	2	3	4
UNICS Kazan	23	27	22	18
Mornar Bar	12	21	14	26

End of Quarter	1	2	3	4
UNICS Kazan	23	50	72	90
Mornar Bar	12	33	47	73

UNICS Kazan

							Rebounds						Blocks		Fouls
#	Player	Min	Pts	2FG	3FG	FT	O	D	T	As	St	To	Fv	Ag	Cm	Rv	PIR
1	SERGEEV, PAVEL	11:20			0/1			1	1	1	1	2				2	2
2	MORGAN, RAYMAR	19:24	22	10/12		2/2	2		2	2		1			2	3	24
4	LOCKETT, TRENT	25:53	12	2/2	1/3	5/6	3	2	5	3	3				1	5	24
5	NDOUR, MAURICE	15:09	7	2/5		3/4	1	2	3		2	1	1	1	2	3	8
6	MCCOLLUM, ERRICK	23:36	12	2/6	0/2	8/8		2	2	1	1	2			2	4	10
7	PONKRASHOV, ANTON	23:47	12	2/4	2/4	2/2		2	2	1						3	14
12	KLIMENKO, ARTEM	11:31	2	1/1				2	2						3		1
15	SMITH, JAMAR	19:29	13	2/5	3/7			3	3		2	2	1		1		9
27	KOSHCHEEV, ANDREY	4:59	1	0/2		1/2	1	1	2					1		2	1
42	KOLESNIKOV, EVGENY	16:43	5	2/3	0/1	1/1		1	1		2				2	2	6
49	HENRY, PIERRIA	17:32	4	2/3	0/2		1	2	3	6	3	1			1		11
88	KAIMAKOGLOU, KOSTAS	10:37			0/2			2	2	1					2	1
	Team						2	3	5			1					4
	Totals	200:00	90	25/43	6/22	22/25	10	23	33	15	14	10	2	2	16	25	114
				58.1%	27.3%	88%

Head coach: PRIFTIS, DIMITRIS

Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating

Mornar Bar

							Rebounds						Blocks		Fouls
#	Player	Min	Pts	2FG	3FG	FT	O	D	T	As	St	To	Fv	Ag	Cm	Rv	PIR
0	CARRINGTON, KHADEEN	4:18	2	1/3	0/1												-1
4	MICOVIC, STRAHINJA	22:10	2	1/5				6	6	1		2			4		-1
7	KOENIG, BRONSON	19:35	5	1/3	1/3			1	1	3		4				1	2
8	MIJOVIC, MARKO	12:07	3	1/2		1/2				4	1				5	1	2
13	DRENOVAC, DORDE	22:24	11	4/8	0/1	3/4				2	1	1		1	3	4	7
14	PAVIC, VUKOTA	17:50	8	3/3	0/1	2/3	1	1	2			4			2	1	3
17	VUJOSEVIC, RADOJE	14:11	3	1/2		1/2		5	5			3		1	2	2	2
21	PAVICEVIC, LAZAR	1:51										1					-1
24	WALLER, ANTABIA	19:47	6	0/1	2/3	0/2				1					3	1	1
41	VRANJES, NEMANJA	21:24	10	2/4	2/3					4	1	2			4	1	7
44	REBIC, NIKOLA	19:15	4	2/3	0/1			1	1	1	1	1					4
55	LUKOVIC, UROS	25:52	19	8/8		3/5	4	8	12	1		1	2		2	5	34
	Team							2	2			1					1
	Totals	200:44	73	24/42	5/13	10/18	5	24	29	17	4	20	2	2	25	16	60
				57.1%	38.5%	55.6%

Head coach: PAVICEVIC, MIHAILO

Head Coaches

PRIFTIS, DIMITRIS

UNICS Kazan

"We played seriously and had a good defensive intensity the whole game. We controlled their outside shooting - of course, we relaxed a little bit in the last quarter, but are happy we won the game. It is normal sometimes for players to relax and also, we shared playing time with everybody because we have a tough schedule. We play our next game in Siberia and have to control the playing time of our players a little bit to keep them fresh, so this is why."

PAVICEVIC, MIHAILO

Mornar Bar

"First of all, I would like to congratulate UNICS and its coach. They are a very good team and played very good basketball. It is not easy to play against their aggressive defense. That was the biggest problem for us and we also had the same problem in the first game, when we played at home. We didn't have good answers against their aggressive defense. We tried to do something, but it was not enough to make this game even more interesting. In the end, I hope UNICS wins this competition, because they play really good basketball. The fourth quarter was maybe our best moment in this game. We played much better and some of our players on the court were those who came off the bench. I hope we will start to play much better because we signed two new players - they are in our city. With these two players, I think we will be a much better team."

Players

SMITH, JAMAR

UNICS Kazan

"I think that we are happy that we won, but we are not satisfied with how the end went. We kind of lost focus a little bit and got away from the game but overall, we played a very good game. Raymar [Morgan] was able to establish a really good presence down low for us, which opened things up outside. So, overall, it was a pretty good game for us. We have a goal in mind and everybody is committed to it. Everybody is going to play as hard as we can - win or lose, making shots or not, the biggest thing for us is just continue to fight and play hard."