Stealing the show: John Brown's amazing defensive effort leads UNICS to win over Barcelona / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Roman Kruchinin/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images Credit Roman Kruchinin/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

Russian side UNICS Kazan (12-7) got his revenge against FC Barcelona (16-5) and won this big match after an impressive defensive effort. Coach Perasovic's team won 70-64 (17-14, 14-21, 23-13, 16-16)

Player of the Game EFF 29 Lorenzo Brown Points 22 Accuracy 9-13 Rebounds 3 Assists 8

After being down by 10 (66-56), Barcelona cut down UNICS' lead to just 5 points (66-61) but in the final minute UNICS kept its composure and took the win home.

"Of course, we wanted to win this game," John Brown said. "We owed those guys. It was a good atmosphere, our fans came out and showed up for us. It's always beautiful to see them, they give us so much motivation in these types of games. [The most difficult part in the win was] just staying focused in the end."

John Brown's impressive defense was again a key for UNICS at the start of the fourth quarter. The American big man reached 7 steals at the beginning of the period, a new career-high for him and a new season-high in the competition, while UNICS had the best lead of the game (59-51).

Barcelona recorded their lowest-scoring game in the EuroLeague this season. They have also registered season-lows in assists (10), assists per 100 possessions (14.1), and offensive efficiency (90.1).

After being down by 6 points (41-35), UNICS went on a 12-0 run (47-41) fueled by Mario Hezonja and Isaiah Canaan. The team coached by Vladimir Perasovic finished the third quarter up by 6 (54-48)

In the third quarter, the game remained extremely well balanced. Both defenses looked impressive, keeping the score low and creating almost an opposite scenario of the previous game between the two teams, which was a scoring fest.

Barcelona started the second quarter strong, imposing a 10-0 run (24-17) fueled by Cory Higgins' back-to-back three-pointers. UNICS though, reacted again with their defense. John Brown and Viacheslav Zaitcev made some big plays defensively and the Russian side cut down Barca's lead to just four points (35-31),

FC Barcelona / Schedule

UNIKS Kazan FC Barcelona70-64 FC Barcelona LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne01-2720:00

In the first quarter, the presence of John Brown was immediately felt. The American big man had three steals in the first 10 minutes, once again putting impressive pressure on his opponents. Brown added 11 points as the top scorer of his team, which led by 3 at the end of the first period (17-14)

Lorenzo Brown was the top scorer for UNICS Kazan with 22 points (8/10 2PT, 1/3 3PT, 3/4 FT), 8 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 turnovers, and 29 PIR

For Barcelona, instead, the top scorer was Cory Higgins with 17 points (4/7 2PT, 2/5 3PT, 3/3 FT), 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, and 12 PIR

"We are very happy that we have Calathes and Higgins back," coach Jasikevicius admitted. "We will suffer with them until they get back into the rhythm. They are extremely important players for us.

I thought Higgins was excellent. I thought Davies was okay, solid. But I can't find a third player that was solid. We were not good enough."

UNICS: Lorenzo Brown 22 (8 AST), John Brown 20 (7 STL), Mario Hezonja 11 (11 REB), Isaiah Canaan 6, Andrey Vorontsevich 6.

Barcelona: Cory Higgins 17, Brandon Davies 16, Nicolas Laprovittola 8, Kyle Kuric 6, Rolands Smits 6.

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