In a sentimental game that started with a minute of silence to honor the victims of the plane crash that took place in Kazan just a few days earlier, hosting Unics had to wait until the final period to pull away and defeat Maccabi Haifa Bazan by 79-58 on Wedensday. The win lifts Unics to a 6-0 record in Group G and remains the undefeated leader and almost becaomes a Last 32 team. On the other hand, Maccabi stop its winning streak and drops to 4-2. The game was balanced throughout the first 30 minutes, but after that, Unics pulled a 15-3 run in the first 8 minutes of the last period that sealed the deal. Andrew Goudelock led the winners again with 18 points, Ian Vougioukas added 12 and Luke Harangody posted 10. Brian Randle led the winners with 17 points and Donta Smith flirted with the triple-double again with his 13 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists.
Maccabi Haifa started well first with a 0-4 and then progressing to a 2-6, but Unics replied with a good run of its own, 9-2, capped by Luke Harangody's layup for 11-8. The game was pretty much balanced by this point as neither team managed to build important leads when the clock hit the 10-minute mark with a 24-20 Unics edge. Ian Vougioukas emerged as an offensive option for the hosts under the glass, while Maccabi relied on Donta Smith to keep the pace, as he scored free throws for 30-29. With great balance in all stats aspects of the game, save for a 21-15 in rebounds for Unics, the game advanced to the halftime break with a 41-36 edge for the hosts as Vougioukas and Smith were still the stars of the show. The second half saw Unics start with an 8-0 run, including two threes, for a double-digit lead, 51-36, to which Maccabi Haifa replied with its own 0-12 burst capped by Ike Ofoegbu's free throw, 51-48. However, it would be only Unics until the end of the third with another 9-0 run for 60-48 after 30 minutes. In the last quarter, points cam in scarce on both sides, but Unics still managed to enlarge the lead a little more to 15 points and beyond and when Kostas Kaimakoglou his the bucket for 70-51 and 4 minutes to go, it looked like Unics would take the win and the suspicion was only confirmed with the final buzzer and the 79-58.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
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