FC Barcelona Regal trumped Unics Kazan 63-50

FC Barcelona Regal remained undefeated one more week in Group D thanks to a convincing 63-50 home win over visiting Unics Kazan. The guests managed to stay close throughout the first three quarters, and never surrendered despite trailing all the time. However, a starting 12-0 in the last period broke the game open for good. Barca improved its record to 8-0 while Unics drops to 5-3, even though both teams had already qualified for the Top 16. Juan Carlos Navarro led the way for the winners with 13 points, Erazem Lorbek added 11 and Pete Mickeal had 10. For Unics, Terrell Lyday posted 12 points and Lynn Greer had 10.

Juan Carlos Navarro started on fire for Barcelona, as he was soon up to six points when the score displayed a 8-4. Kosta Perovic added his three-point play inside for 11-4 but Aleksey Savrasenko, quite active for Unics, stopped the bleeding with his points. Barca was basing its game ouside the paint and also was leading in the assists department, 6-1. But Henry Domercant was pushing Unics in the right direction. Despite Navaro's threee, Domercant had his own for 18- 15 and Pete Mickeal had to copy him soon to keep the lead for the hosts. Nathan Jawai stepped on court for the first time since Week 4 after injury, but the score didn't move as after 10 minutes, Barca led 21-15.

The second quarter started with a huge slam by Jawai and in the following play he had a block over Victor Sada. Defenses took over however, and it wasn't until three minutes later that Barcelona had its first basket of the period when Joe Ingles stole the ball and slammed for 23-17. Terrell Lyday and Chuck Eidson traded threes as the hosts were getting quite a few second chances thanks to the offensive boards. Fran Vazquez slammed for the 28-20 but then Unics woke up as Lynn Greer and Petr Gubanov hit back-to-back buckets to force Barcelona's timeout. However, a new offensive rebound by Lorbek allowed him for a 30-22 Barca lead. Domercant was active again as Unics never allowed the hosts to play comfortably. Both teams were committing turnovers until Marcelinho Huertas hit a new Barca three, quickly answered by Greer for the 33-28 Barcelona edge at the break.

The third quarter also started with a couple of bright moments by Lorbek for the hosts, 38-30. However, Unics had managed to bring the game to its favorite terrain, with a slow tempo basketball. Vladimir Veremeenko appeared for the guests with four points, but offenses were struggling with the resistance proposed by the defenses. Boni Ndong hit twice from the line but Petr Samoylenko's three made it a 5-point game, 44-39. Domercan'ts own free throws and a steal pls layup by Greer made it a 44-43 with one minute to go in the quarter. CJ Wallace saved the day in Barca's fourth option in offense in the same play for a 47-43 edge for the hosts at the end of the third quarter.

The last period started with a 10-0 Barcelona run with points by perovic, Navarro, Eidson and Perovic again. The defense of the hosts was forcing constant turnovers on Unics' offense, 57-43. The scoring run for the hosts went on when Huertas lifted a layup that forced Unics' timeout with less than 5 minutes to go. Veremeenko finally slammed the ball for Unics but when Mickeal hit the open three from the wing for the 62-45, it was clear that the hosts would escape another game with a new win.