Unics holds off late Banvit charge for key road win

Unics Kazan led by as many as 18 before holding off a late Banvit Bandirma charge for a 79-85 victory on Wednesday. Unics improved to 2-0, while Banvit fell to 0-2 in Group D. Arturas Milaknis and Keith Langford scored 23 points apiece and Quino Colom added a double-double for the winners. Milaknis made 7 of 9 three-pointers and Langford made 9 of 10 twos. Colom scored 14 and dished 10 assists and Art Parakhouski posted 10 points and 7 boards for Unics. A.J. Slaughter led Banvit with 29 points, while Courtney Forston scored 13, Gasper Vidmar tallied 12 points and 10 rebounds and Dominique Johnson netted 10 points. Unics pulled away in the second quarter as Milaknis hit 3 threes in a 2-14 charge for a 23-34 Unics lead. Slaughter led Banvit’s fourth-quarter comeback, but Unics got big baskets and free throws down the stretch to claim the victory.

Colom got Unics on the scoreboard first. Soon, Forston gave the hosts their first lead, 4-2. Unics countered with the next 6 points as the lead swapped sides again, but after a basket-plus-foul by Forston, Adrien Moerman edged Banvit in front 11-10. Milaknis buried a three and Art Parakhouski scored inside to put Unics back on top. After Slaughter buried a three for Banvit, Colom and Langford left Unics up 14-20 after 10 minutes. After another triple by Slaughter, Forston gave Banvit a 21-20 lead with free throws, but Milaknis replied with back-to-back three-pointers. He later added another as did Colom before Anton Ponkrashov capped a 2-14 charge for a 23-34 Unics advantage. Milaknis added 2 more triples before the end of the half and Ponkrashov made one too as the lead reached 15. A basket plus foul by Slaughter trimmed the difference to 33-43 at halftime.

Unics scored the first 7 points of the second half – 4 of which came from Langford. Vidmar revived the Banvit attack and Slaughter drew the hosts within 42-54. The teams traded points for much of the quarter, which ended with Unics going up 50-65 on a Colom free throw. Parakhouski stretched the lead to 18 early in the fourth quarter. A Moerman three and basket-plus-foul by Slaughter gave Banvit hope. Valeriy Likhodey made a three to restore a comfortable Unics lead, 58-73. Johnson scored 6 straight points and Slaughter buried a three and suddenly the arena was alive with Banvit within 6 and three minutes remaining. However Milaknis responded with his seventh three and Langford scored too to restore a double-digit lead. Another Slaughter three made it 72-78 and still another, his sixth, made it 77-81 with 20 seconds left, but free throws by Petr Gubanov and Langford sealed the victory.