Unicaja advance to top 16 by downing KK Zagreb 82-67: Euroleague Recap (Part 2)
Unicaja Coach, Chus Mateo was relieved after his team made it to the second round. However, he was not very satisfied with the offense, his team displayed on the night;
“It was not a too beautiful a game that we presented. I am especially happy with the second quarter when we stopped Mario Kasun and slowed Zagreb down and the left them without fast break points. In the beginning, we were a little
bit nervous because of the importance of the game, but we did a very good job on defense. Our offense did not show a lot, but we secured a place in the Top 16 and that's what is important. "
Unicaja were rusty in the first few minutes. After Earl Rowland opened the scoring for them through a layup, they failed to find baskets at regular intervals, allowing Zagreb to get ahead 11-7 midway through the first frame.
However with so much at stake in the game, they quickly gained some momentum and closed out the lead in the next few minutes. Zagreb however was still the dominant team on the floor and completely dominated the paint to race into
a commanding position at 22-17 with less than a minute remaining. Jorge Garbosa drilled a three from other end though to ensure Unicaja entered the second half just trailing behind by 2 points, 22-20.
The second frame belonged to Unicaja. They reeled off a critical 13-4 run in the opening minutes of second frame to make it 33-26 and managed to maintain the lead throughout. The lead almost reached double figures by the end of
first half, however fortunately for Zagreb; Josh Heytvelt drilled one from outside the arc to finish the first half at 39-45.
The game was still open at the half, but Unicaja kept on building. They completely hounded the Croatians for space and by the end of the third quarter; they were leading by 13 points, 65-52.
The last frame turned was a close fight. Zagreb, staring at double digit hole, had to make some early inroads to stand any chance. However, Unicaja quelled any hopes of a comeback with a nearly 7-2 spurt and they were never challenged
after that.
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