Kravish and Perry put Unicaja into orbit

Unicaja takes a very important and prestigious victory against AEK from Athens that made things very difficult for them in the first three quarters of the crash. But a devastating final stretch, with a tremendous 28-12 run, handed down the verdict for the people from Malaga who started the Round of 16 of the Basketball Champions League in the best possible way.

Despite the final result, it cannot be said that the victory of the people of Malaga was easy. After a successful first quarter, the Greeks rallied, pressed, came to take the lead on the scoreboard and scared them. But the stellar performance of Kendrick Perry and a formidable Kravish plus a triple of gold from Brizuela (the only one who scored) were far from sentence,

AEK is a classic Greek team with a certain pedigree. Eight League titles and once a finalist in the Euroleague in 1998 against Kinder de Bologna (José Lasa and Prelevic were among others). A complicated opponent. The people from Malaga, defending and running, managed to open the first gap of the duel at 9′ after a triple by Barreiro.

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The Hellenes react and from 29-20 (min. 10) they go to 31-31 in a bad partial for the locals, 2-14 in five minutes with the ring shrunk. You had to counter Miles and Mitchell. Kendrick Perry gets to work with a 2+1 and two consecutive triples. Those from Ibon were missing the best version of Osetkowski, with some muscular problems. With ambivalent feelings, you reach the break with 44-39.

The second half puts another tack in the way of Unicaja, Perry’s personal fourth, who was being the best on the pitch. The AEK takes the fight to the melee sheltering in the physical work and the interior game and Mitchell punishing (48-47 min. 25). The purple-greens, spurred on by a roaring Carpena, were still bogged down in attacks and a three-pointer from Fionis put the score at 50-50 (min. 27). The situation worsens and Mitchell, again under hoops, scores the 51-52 that predicted a slide and roller coaster.

In these moments of trouble, Yankuba Sima multiplied under the boards, holding his team with a hit of two and a nice mate. The third set ends with 59-54. In the exciting final stretch, a flopping technique is whistled for Alberto Díaz, which angers the local parish, annoyed by the strictness with his arbitration team. Brizuela, applied in defensive work, is not fine with the shots. Alberto is also charged with four personal and Perry returns to the edge of the wire.

After a loss to the Athenians Darío scores his first triple at a very opportune moment. 66-58 min.34 that increases to 69-58 after a great rebound captured by Kravish after a free kick missed by Djedovic. At 35 Miles he is eliminated by five personal. He leaves with 14 points. Kravish is still on fire and the distance grows to a 16.76-60 lead with a 17-6 run. Ilias Kantzouris, AEK coach, asks for time to remedy a deplorable stretch that ruined his previous good work.

And the party breaks. Kravish was the Greek nightmare with 13 points in 10 minutes. He scored 22, the same as Perry, to achieve a great victory in a very difficult group where Limoges and Galatasaray also compete.