Brussino Decides in Fourth Quarter as Zaragoza Edges Unicaja (96-91)

Casademont Zaragoza secured a hard-fought victory over Unicaja, who debuted Kevin Knox. Gonzalo García de Vitoria's squad prevailed over Txus Vidorreta's team, with whom he shared the bench at Tenerife, thanks to Nicolás Brussino's dominant fourth-quarter performance. Zaragoza improves to 5-2, while Unicaja falls to 3-4 with their fourth loss in seven games.

Knox Enters with Force
Before 8,406 spectators at Príncipe Felipe, Augustine Noua carried Unicaja early, scoring eight points in less than three minutes, and a three-pointer by Simas Lukošius made it 7-14. Birutis responded with six straight points to turn it around (17-16), and then Knox appeared, introducing himself with a dunk and a three-pointer. The first quarter ended 17-20.

In the second, Birutis and Guillem Vives began connecting on the pick-and-roll, and a three-pointer by Sergi García gave Zaragoza the lead (27-25). With the score tied at 29 five minutes before halftime, the home team closed with a 7-0 run and led 43-38 at the break.

Brussino, in the Crucial Moment
Unicaja came out of the locker room with a 0-11 run in two minutes, with baskets from Cameron Hunt and Kendale Perry and Tyler Kalinoski's first three-pointer, and took a six-point lead (43-49), their largest advantage. Birutis again sustained Zaragoza with eight straight points, and another 7-0 run at the end of the third quarter gave the home team back the lead (67-64).

The fourth quarter belonged to Brussino. The Argentine and Knox traded baskets back and forth, and a three-pointer by Brussino made it 88-87 with two minutes remaining. A three-pointer by Jonatan Jaworski extended the home team's lead to 92-87 with 1:24 to play. Hunt stole and scored for 92-89, and Perry made two free throws for 92-91 with 22 seconds left, but Brussino didn't miss from the free-throw line (95-91) and Unicaja's final possession ended in a turnover.

Brussino finished with 25 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 of 6 from three-point range, while Vives distributed 10 assists. For Unicaja, Perry added 20 points and Noua and Knox each scored 17. The Málaga team made just 11 of 40 three-pointers.