Unicaja shoot lights out in second half, reach maiden BCL Final
BELGRADE (Serbia) – Unicaja could not buy a triple in the first half on Friday but will play in the Basketball Champions League title game for the first time in their history after hitting 11 triples in the second half to see off UCAM Murcia in the Semi-Finals, and set up an all-Spanish Final against Lenovo Tenerife.
The Andalucian side prevailed 80-74, making the fans in green extremely loud in the Belgrade Arena. The Final matchup will be the second time that teams from the same country face off in the championship game, the first one being Lenovo Tenerife against BAXI Manresa in 2022.
Turning point: Unicaja missed all six of their shots from beyond the arc in the first half, but came back with a stellar third quarter, making 6 three-pointers across ten minutes to take control of the game.
The two laws of team sports were quite evident the rest of the way: (1) confidence is contagious, as seven different players knocked down a triple for coach Ibon Navarro, and (2) lack of confidence is even more contagious, as UCAM Murcia could not buy a bucket and went from +11 to -10.
When they did put a run together with Howard Sant-Roos cutting the gap to one point late in the game, Unicaja found another similar response. Back-to-back three-pointers by Tyler Kalinoski and Tyson Carter to avoid any sort of a dramatic finish in Belgrade.
