After a friendly meeting with “Neptunas”, “Astana” had quick turn around to Palanga, where capital team held its fourth off-season friendly game. This time on the opposite side of the basket was the Latvian team “Liepajas Lauvas” from the city of Liepaja.
The Latvian team was founded in 1992 and participated in the Latvian Basketball League, and also played in the Baltic League. The best achievement of the team was second place in the Latvian Championship back in the 1996/1997 season. In the 2017/2018 season, “Liepaja Lions” finished the Latvian League only at 8th position and were unable to advance group stage in the Baltic League. Last season, the Latvian and Estonian basketball leagues united in a single tournament, but the team from Liepaja did not participate anywhere and was disbanded. This season the team gathered again and will participate in the Latvian-Estonian basketball league. “Astana” has never met “Liepaja Lions” before this game, and this was their first meeting.
It should be noted right away that Coty Clarke arrived to Palanga and made his debut for “Astana” in this game. Right from the start, the Kazakhstan team seized the initiative in the game and after the first ten minutes break away by 10 points. The second quarter was also successful for “Astana”, which increased its advantage by more than two times before halftime. In the third quarter “Liepaja Lions” also could not cope with Emil Rajkovic squad, which confidently controlled the game and chalked another 5 points on the score sheet. In the final quarter, “Astana” fully controlled the situation on the court, which resulted in 30 plus points advantage. As a result, the yellow-turquoise had a dominant performance — 73: 107 (19:29, 13:25, 24:29, 17:24).
Koty Clarke scored his first points for “Astana”, but the Kazakhstan’s twin towers were the best in the match — Alexander Zhigulin (26 points, 4 rebounds) and Askar Maidekin (23 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals). Also, Jeremiah Hill had himself quite a game (14 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals).
Schedule and results of pre-season friendly matches of PBC Astana:
- September 7 — BC «CBet» - 74:75
- September 9 — BC «Khimki» - 88:81
- September 12 — BC «Neptunas» - 79:79
- September 14 — BC «Liepaja» - 73:107
- September 17 — BC «Lietuvos-Rytas» - 100:76
- September 19 — BC «Avtodor» - 106:83
- September 24 — BC «VEF» — 84:77
- September 28 — BC «Kuršiai»
