Today, the Minsk Arena hosted a confrontation between Minsk and Kazan UNICS. In the Minsk team, due to injuries, Zach Smith and Kiryl Sitnik had to miss the match, who were replaced by a young guard in the person of the players of the MINSK team (reserve) Roman Shcherbakov and Kanstantsin Pasko. In a difficult and worthy match for our team, UNICS won with the score 58:54 (18:10, 13:13, 19:9, 8:22).
Starting fives
MINSK: Daniil Kasko, Daniil Barysevich, Aliaksei Trastsinetski, Darol Hernandez Zinenko, Uladzislau Blizniuk.
UNICS: Nenad Dimitrijevic, Louis Labeyrie, Stanislav Ilnitsky, Mikhail Kulagin, Vince Hunter.
Game scenario
Unfortunately, the first shots of MINSK did not work out for the team, while Kazan made a 9:0 breakthrough, and Rostislav Vergun took a timeout. Daniil Kasko opened the score on the scoreboard for MINSK, as Uladzislau Blizniuk brought another +2 to the team. With another shot, Vlad Blizniuk did not allow UNICS to go into a double-digit advantage. Unfortunately, despite hits from Vlad Blizniuk and Darol Hernandez Zinenko, offensive losses from Minsk residents still led to the advantage of Kazan at the end of the quarter – 10:18.
In a quick breakaway, Benjamin-Pavel Dudu opened the score on the scoreboard at the start of the second quarter, with another hit Darol Hernandez Zinenko reduced the gap from Velimir Perasovich's team to 6 points (14:20). A serious struggle unfolded under the rings of both teams, and despite the advantage of UNICS, it was impossible to confidently say that the guests took the leading positions on our home court. UNICS committed more losses, giving Minsk residents the opportunity to catch up. Then Benjamin-Pavel Dodoo loaded the first “three-point” shot of Minsk residents, and UNICS took a timeout (17:24). Thanks to Vadzim Stubeda's interception, Maksim Karattsou scored another spectacular “three-point” a minute and a half before the big break. Not having had time to recover from getting into their ring, UNICS received another “three-point” from the captain of MINSK, Aliaksei Trastisnetski. The teams left for the big break with a score of 23:31.
In the third quarter, the opponent from Kazan was able to repeatedly earn easy points with free throws, Daniil Kasko and Daniil Barysevich scored in our team with hits from an average distance (27:39). Unfortunately, several jerks from UNICS allowed the team to take a leading position. While only Uladzislau Blizniuk (32:50) could bring the last five minutes of the quarter to the team standings of Minsk residents.
Interchange
In the final quarter, Kazan played with a confident advantage, but Minsk residents were not inferior to the guests in psychological terms, and, having gathered, they were able to get 7 points in 4 minutes of the game as opposed to one “three-point” performed by UNICS. After that, our guys made an incredible breakthrough 11:0, which forced UNICS to take a timeout. Almost three minutes before the end of the game, the teams played with a difference of 6 points. Spectacular “three-point” shot Aliaksei Trastsinetski reduced the gap from UNICS to just 3 points a minute before the final siren. Unfortunately, luck and accuracy when throwing in the last seconds remained with UNICS. The match ended with a score of 54:58.
The most productive:
MINSK: Uladzislau Blizniuk – 18 + 1 REB + 2 AST + 2 STL, Aliaksei Trastsinetski – 8 + 2 REB + 2 AST + 3 STL, Darol Hernandez Zinenko – 8 + 14 REB + 6 AST + 1 STL + 1 block.
UNICS: Nenad Dimitrijevic – 22 + 3 REB + 3 AST + 3 STL, Jalen Reynolds – 9 + 5 REB + 4 block, Viacheslav Zaitsev – 8 + 5 REB + 1 block.
Rostislav Vergun, head coach of MINSK:
— I really want to believe that basketball fans in Minsk liked today's game. This will be a small victory, thank them for their support. I told the guys that there is no concept of "good game, progress" at this level. At this level, the result is important, and so far there are 0 wins in our graph. You should not stop and be satisfied with what you have achieved, and all such thoughts should be driven away in order to prepare yourself for a new job, for new tasks and heights.
With minimal time for respite, the Minsk team will go to Nizhny Novgorod, where it will play against Pari NN on November 11. The meeting starts at 7:00 PM. The broadcast will be available on the VTB United League website.