This Sunday on 4^th of December the metropolitan basketball players will host a home game of VTB United League against Tsmoki-Minsk from Belarus.

The team from Minsk ranks fifth in a VTB league table. The team has 3 wins and 5 defeats. The team unites the strongest national players and foreign players. One of which is a guard Dru Joyce, who is a fiend of famous Lebron James. Astana basketball players after a road game continued their preparation for this game.



The head coach Ilias Papatheodorou commented on the upcoming game:

- We hold this game at home. We would like to continue our performance on the positive wave we caught thanks to victories over the teams of «Yenisei» and «Parma». Basketball club «Minsk-Tsmoki ' is an experienced team and an uncomfortable opponent for us, and they know what they want in the game and know how to do it. The concentration of energy and making the right decisions will be the key to victory for us. «
 
Important information for fans:
The match will be held at the Ice Palace «Barys Arena». Starts at 16.00 Astana time. Free admission!

«Astana» defeated «Tsmoki-Minsk» on its home court — 84−67 (19−13, 21−18, 21−18, 23−18).

By the end of the first quarter triples by Robert Lowery and Ian Miller let «Astana» to take a lead. Three pointless minutes for Tsmoki in the second quarter resulted in a double-digit advantage (23:13) for «Astana». Due to accurate and well-orchestrated actions Kazakhs pulled away till the last quarter, when series of scored shots of same Lowery allowed bringing in the verdict about the winner of the game. «Astana» wins three games in the row in the League for the fifth time in its history.

Top Scorers:

Astana: Rob Lowery (25), Ian Miller (21), Dimitrios Katsivelis (13+6 ast)

Tsmoki-Minsk: Justin Gray (16), Djordje Gagic (13+12 reb), Nemanja Milosevic (10)

«Astana» head coach Ilias Papatheodorou:
– This was an important win and I think we deserved it 100%. The players followed the game plan from the very start. We were excellent on both sides of the court, just as on offense so on defence. For us, it’s very important now to keep up.

«Tsmoki-Minsk» head coach Igor Grishchuk:
– Congratulations to Astana on the win. We lost by 17 points. I don’t have anything else to add.
 
«Astana» will host the next game in Karaganda on the court of «Zhastar» Sport Centre. On 10th of December Astana plays against «Lokomotiv-Kuban» under VTB United League.