Musa’s career high 20 points carries Cedevita over UNICS

Cedevita Zagreb used a barrage of three-pointers and a record performance by youngster Dzanan Musa to knock off UNICS Kazan 94-74 in Group A. Musa nailed 4 of Cedevita’s 14 three-pointers - on 25 attempts for 56 percent – in scoring 20 points, a career-best in the competition. Roko Ukic poured in 18 points with 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals for a performance index rating of 23 as Cedevita moved to 2-2 in the group. Will Cherry added 17 points and Filip Kruslin chipped in 13 points in the win. Stephane Lasme also set a new personal mark for most points in a EuroCup game with 24 for a PIR of 29. Qunio Colom added 18 points and 5 assists while Vladislav Trushkin had 10 points in the loss, which dropped UNICS’s record to 2-2.

Cedevita came out on fire from beyond the arc, nailing 4 straight three-pointers – including a pair from Kevin Murphy – in opening a 12-7 lead. UNICS was not impressed with Cedevita’s early fireworks and got a Trent Lockett tip-in, Jamar Smith triple and Lasme lay-in during a 3-12 finish to the first quarter that put the visitors ahead 15-19. Musa joined the three-point party to start the second quarter only to see UNICS get the ball inside to Lasme for 7 straight points and a 20-26 cushion. Musa responded with another triple, a three-point play and a running floater in a 10-0 Cedevita run for a 30-26 advantage. Three Cherry free throws and a Kruslin three-pointer later and Cedevita was up 36-28. In the final 3:43 minutes of the second quarter, there was only one basket – by Lasme – with both sides going regularly to the free throw line. Colom hit 6 foul shots and Cedevita went into the locker room up 44-39.

Early in the third quarter, Ukic scored twice and Murphy hit a corner three as the Cedevita advantage grew to 11 points. Lasme tried to keep UNICS in the game with two scores to make it 57-48, but Musa nailed 2 more three-pointers as the cushion grew to 67-48. The margin was 70-53 after three quarters. Anton Ponkrashov got the gap to 70-57 early in the fourth quarter, but Cherry hit two three-pointers to spark a 12-3 run for an 82-60 lead. Trushkin tried to do some cosmetics to the result, but Ukic tallied 9 points in the fourth quarter and UNICS never challenged the rest of the way.