Darussafaka owns fourth quarter to stop Unics

In a game of swings in the scoreboard, Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul had the last and most important run to see off visiting Unics Kazan 71-64 on Friday. Darussafaka boosted its record to 10-8, the same as Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens and Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade, good for eighth place. Unics fell to 7-11 alongside Brose Bamberg in 11th place. Darussafaka got 17 points and 7 rebounds forom Adrien Moerman. Brad Wanamaker followed with 16, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Ante Zizic added 13 points and James Anderson 10 for the winners. Unics got 16 points from Keith Langford, 13 each from Artsiom Parakhouski and Pavel Antipov and 10 from Orlando Johnson. The visitors, down 15-7 early in the game, led both at halftime and the end of three quarters, but a 12-0 blast off led by Wanamaker, Moerman and Zizic was too much for the visitors as Darussafaka controlled the scoreboard to the finish.

Moerman dunked a miss and hit a jumper around Langford's first triple to start the scoring. Parakhouski was strong inside before Zizic got loose for a dunk. Moerman continued scoring while Wanamaker and Anderson joined him for a 12-7 edge. Wanamaker and Wilbekin drilled their team's first triples around a nice alley-oop from Paul Stoll to Latavious Williams as the lead swelled to 23-11. Langford's 4 of 6 free throws and Antipov's put-back helped Unics draw within 23-17 after 10 minutes. Moerman ended a four-minute scoring drought for Darussafaka, but Williams matched him with a put-back. Clyburn dropped free throws and slammed a fastbreak feed from Hanrangody at 28-20. But Unics, out of a timeout, got triples from Johnson and Antipov to trim the difference to 28-26. Wilbekin answered from deep and Coty Clarke scored for the guests before Antipov did the honors of taking the lead for Unics with 5 points in a row as the visitors reached halftime ahead 33-34.

Moermann and Wanamaker took back the lead for Darussafaka right after the break. Wanamaker fed Zizic for a dunk before Stoll did the same to Parakhouski for Unics's first points after 3 minutes. Anderson's layup and tip-in fell but Darussafaka left Langford wide open for a triple at 41-39. Clyburn emerged with baskets in close as the Darussafaka lead climbed to 47-39. Antipov's second-chance triple revived the visitors, and then Stoll's tied it up 47-47. Anderson's inside basket was matched by Langford, who came back with a triple for the game's 10th lead change. But Wanamaker went coast to coast for huge layup to end third quarter 51-52. Williams put back a Unics miss to open the fourth quarter but Zizic matched him at the foul line. Wanamaker conjured a layup in traffic to re-take the lead and Dairis Bertans hit free throws to extend it to 57-54. Moerman's steal, layup and free throw was copied by Zizic on a nifty fake as the Darussafaka run reached 12-0 and its lead 63-54. Clarke's free throw was the first point in 3:30 for Unics, but anyway Wilbekin fed Zizic to make it 67-57. Johnson's tough layup for Unics was met by Bertans feeding Moerman for a reverse, and after Parakhouski's free throws, it was 69-62. Zizic and Parakhouski dropped second-chance baskets at 71-64 with 2 minutes left. A pair of close misses put Unics's back against the wall as the Darussafaka defense held up the rest of the way for much-deserved victory.