Despite late comeback efforts by the guests, Unics Kazan managed to hold off Galatasaray Medical Park on Wednesday, and racked up a valuable home win by 64-57. This result could grant the Russian team a berth in the Quarterfinals thanks to a 3-2 record in Group L. However, Unics will still have to wait for the result of the game between Crvena Zvezda Telekom and ratiopharm Ulm later in the evening to see the final outcome. Galatasaray dropped to 2-3 and still retains some options to advance, always taking into account the result of the game between Zvezda and Ulm. After trailing during the whole first half, Galatasaray managed to tie the game in the third quarter and even jump ahead for a few minutes, but Unics regrouped and thanks to a late 10 run in the game, it put the win in a safe place. Vladimir Veremeenko led the winners with 15 points and 9 rebounds, Terrell Lyday added 14 and 8, Mire Chatman flirted with the triple-double with 12 points plus 8 rebounds and assists. Finally, Kostas Kaimakoglou contributed 10 points and 8 rebounds for Unics. For Galatasaray, Engin Atsur nailed 12 points and Manuchar Markoishvili added 11 behind 3 of 4 triples. Boniface Ndong contributed 14 rebounds plus 7 points for the guests.
Mire Chatman and Terrell Lyday took care of a close start for Unics. After a 4-4, Manuchar Markoishvili hit a three to help
Galatasaray Medical Park keep up with the hosts, 8-7, but from there it was all Unics up to 16-7 after Lyday's five straight
points. Engin Atsur hit a new three for the guests, but Chatman did the same to keep Unics in a safe place. Atsur scored
again to put an end to a fast first quarter with a 21-14 Unics edge. The hosts were dominating the rebounds - 12-4 - but
despite appearing to have an upper hand, Unics saw how Galatasaray started recovering. Boni Ndong points with the help of
Ender Arslan's three allowed the guests to pull within 28-25 in minute 17. Chatman and Vladimir Veremeenko hit back to back
buckets to keep Unics alive, but a few turnovers in bad moments were keeping the guests in the loop as Atsur's new three
almost on the halftime buzzer made it 32-28 for Unics at the break.
The chase continued in the first minutes of the second half. Unics was maintaining a slim margin but Milan Macvan finally hit
a bomb from downtown to tie the game at 36-36. Markoishvili's five points in a row finally put Galatasaray ahead, 39-41,
thanks to the guests better performance from the arc. A late pull from Unics in the last minutes of the third period however
with six uncontested points capped by Veremeenko, allowed the hosts to make it 47-42 after 30 minutes. Things stayed more or less the same in the first minutes of the last quarter as Unics was suceeding in keeping Galatasaray at a reasonable distance. Mike Wilkinson and Kostas Kaimakoglou blasted threes to keep the trend going for the hosts with a 10-0 run, while on the other side, turnovers and missed shots were starting to become critical, 60-49. Galatasaray charged back in a last attempt to trim the deficit down, but when Erwin Dudley scored for 60-55 with one minute left to go, Unics reappeared with free thows by Chatman that put the game on ice and left things just perfect for Unics to qualify to the Quarterfinals.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
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