2016-17Regular SeasonRound 26
March 17, 2017 CET: 17:00
Local time: 19:00 BASKET HALL KAZAN

Jankunas, Westermann led Zalgiris to road win in Kazan

Zalgiris Kaunas stayed in the hunt for the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs by downing host Unics Kazan 80-82 at Basket Hall Kazan on Friday. Zalgiris improved to 12-14 and is two wins behind eighth-place Anadolu Efes Istanbul. Already-eliminated Unics dropped to 7-19 and suffered its ninth consecutive regular season loss. Paulius Jankunas led the winners with 21 points. Leo Westermann added 12 while Antanas Kavaliauskas, Brock Motum and Lukas Lekavicius each had 10 for Zalgiris. A recovered Keith Langford led Unics with 27 points and surpassed the previous record for points in a single EuroLeague season. He now has 539 points this season, 14 more than the previous record of 525 set by Nando De Colo of CSKA Moscow last season. Art Parakhouski added 15 points, Quino Colom had 14 and 9 assists while Latavious Williams got 12 points for Unics. As many as five Unics players scored 6 points or more in the first half, as Unics limited turnovers to just 4 and pulled down 6 offensive rebounds to get a 43-42 lead. Small details made the difference in this game: Unics entered the final minute with a 77-76 lead but Westermann buried a go-ahead three-pointer, Langford missed at the other end, Zalgiris drew a couple of non-shooting fouls before Jankunas made free throws that let the guests celebrate a crucial victory.

Langford got Unics going with a three-pointer and a mid-range jumper. Parakhouski scored twice in the paint to give the hosts a 9-4 lead. Augusto Lima stepped up with a dunk and an inside basket, but Parakhouski and Langford kept Unics fully in charge at 15-9. The visitors found a go-to guy in Motum, who scored 7 points in a 2-13 run that Edgaras Ulanovas capped with free throws for a 19-22 Zalgiris lead. Williams took over with consecutive dunks but a layup by Kavaliauskas helped Zalgiris regain a 23-24 lead after 10 minutes. A running layup by Lekavicius and free throws by Jankunas kept Zalgiris ahead, 28-30. Evgeny Voronov and Colom fueled a 7-0 run that gave Unics a 35-30 margin. Jankunas followed free throws with a dunk in a 0-6 Zalgiris run but Marko Banic and Williams helped Unics regain a five-point lead, 43-38. Free throws by Arturas Milaknis and a driving layup by Paulius Valinskas drew Zalgiris within 43-42 at halftime.

Jankunas hit from beyond the arc and Westermann added a layup off a steal for a 43-47 Zalgiris lead after the break. Langford and Parakhouski rescued Unics and a jumper by Williams put the hosts back ahead, 53-52. Jankunas and Renaldas Seibutis fueled a 0-6 Zalgiris run but a driving layup by Langford kept Unics within 57-58. Kavaliauskas stepped up with a three-point play and Jankunas added a layup, helping Zalgiris extend its margin to 60-64 after 30 minutes. Parakhouski dunked and Colom struck from downtown but Motum and an unstoppable Westermann made the hosts call timeout at 65-71. Lekavicius hit a three but Williams, Colom and Langford combined for all the points in a 10-0 run that put Unics in charge, 75-74. Lekavicius hit a jumper and Westermann bettered Langford's free throws with a bomb from downtown for a 77-79 Zalgiris lead with 53.5 seconds left. Free throws by Jankunas sealed the outcome down the stretch. In Round 26, Zalgiris hosts Efes is a critical game for both teams on Tuesday. Unics visits Galatasaray Odeabank Istanbul on Wednesday.

Paulius Jankunas - Zalgiris Kaunas - EB16
Friday, March 17, 2017
Euroleague.net
Referees: GKONTAS, SPIROS; ZAMOJSKI, JAKUB; RADOJKOVIC, JOSIP
Attendance: 3611
By Quarter1234
Unics Kazan23201720
Zalgiris Kaunas24182218
End of Quarter1234
Unics Kazan23436080
Zalgiris Kaunas24426482
Unics Kazan
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 ANTIPOV, PAVEL 23:36 3   1/2     1 1           5   -2
5 LANGFORD, KEITH 34:13 27 3/10 5/9 6/6   1 1 2 1 2     4 8 22
7 PONKRASHOV, ANTON 20:13         1 1 2 2   1     2 1 2
9 PARAKHOUSKI, ARTSIOM 22:43 15 5/10   5/6 1 2 3 1     2   2 4 17
10 COLOM, QUINO 29:04 14 1/3 2/7 6/7 1 4 5 10 1 3       6 25
12 KLIMENKO, ARTEM DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13 BANIC, MARKO 12:04 6 2/4   2/2 1 1 2     1 1   2 1 5
18 VORONOV, EVGENY 20:01 3 0/1 1/3   1 2 3 1 1       5 1 1
20 PANIN, VADIM 16:58     0/1   1 2 3 2       1 4 1  
22 WILLIAMS, LATAVIOUS 21:08 12 6/6 0/1 0/1 1 5 6           1 1 16
31 ANDJUSIC, DANILO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
33 KHABIROV, RUSLAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team           2 3 5               5
Totals 200:00 80 17/34 9/23 19/22 9 22 31 18 3 7 3 1 25 23 91
        50% 39.1% 86.4%
Head coach: PASHUTIN, EVGENY
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
Zalgiris Kaunas
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
3 PANGOS, KEVIN 13:56   0/1           2         2   -1
4 LEKAVICIUS, LUKAS 25:57 10 3/6 1/1 1/2 1 1 2 5 3     1 1 2 16
6 VALINSKAS, PAULIUS 1:02 2 1/1                         2
9 WESTERMANN, LEO 24:54 12 3/3 2/6 0/2 1 1 2 3 1 1     4 2 9
10 SEIBUTIS, RENALDAS 13:13 4 0/1 1/2 1/2   1 1 1         1 1 3
12 MOTUM, BROCK 22:31 10 0/1 3/3 1/2 1 1 2 1 1       2 2 12
13 JANKUNAS, PAULIUS 26:01 21 5/9 1/2 8/8 2 5 7 3   2 1   3 8 30
21 MILAKNIS, ARTURAS 17:15 2 0/2 0/2 2/2                 3 2 -3
23 LIMA, AUGUSTO 16:53 9 4/5   1/3 1 2 3 1   1   1 3 3 8
44 KAVALIAUSKAS, ANTANAS 12:01 10 4/7   2/3 2 1 3     1   1 1 2 8
55 HARTENSTEIN, ISAIAH DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
92 ULANOVAS, EDGARAS 26:17 2 0/3   2/2 1 5 6 3   4     3 3 4
Team           1 6 7               7
Totals 200:00 82 20/39 8/16 18/26 10 23 33 19 5 9 1 3 23 25 95
        51.3% 50% 69.2%
Head coach: JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS

Head Coaches

PASHUTIN, EVGENY
Unics Kazan
"It was a tough game for us, a tied game. Zalgiris is in good shape and we expected that kind of hard game. Our goal was to stop their perimeter players because they are very strong. We managed to stop them and controlled the game much better, with only 7 turnovers, but Paulius Jankunas scored a lot, especially from the beginning, too many easy points inside. Jankunas kept Zalgiris confident, plus we missed rebounds. If you remember, we lost three crucial rebounds in the fourth quarter, when they missed free throws. They took the rebound and had a second chance. When the game is close and goes down to 1 or 2 points difference, 3 rebounds is too much, a huge advantage for Zalgiris. We were focused on that because they play with big guards and power the boards, but we were not able to control the rebounds. We played like a team, together, the guys helped each other. We showed character and went back to the way we played before; Colom, Langford and Parakhouski were in good shape. The guys fought, stayed together and we were a completely different team than we were recently."
JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS
Zalgiris Kaunas
"Obviously, it was a very important game for us, and I am very happy we won. It is one of those key wins to keep hoping to advance. What can I say? It was very difficult; we expected a very difficult game. Unics has no pressure and we have all the pressure because we are playing for something. The guys pulled it out with a huge effort, we pulled it out. We believe in Arturas Milaknis and this is the reason why we started the game with him. We believe in him; we continue to believe in all of our players and he is very important for us. I think he is having a great season."

Players

JANKUNAS, PAULIUS
Zalgiris Kaunas
"Of course, we expected [a tough fourth quarter]; we knew Unics is playing well at home and were ready for that. A couple of mistakes on defense made the score tight and it was really a tough end of the game. Saras said in the last timeout not to foul to the three-point shooter."
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