Estonian «Kalev» won a home game against Kazakhstan «Astana» — 102: 74 (22:13, 26:14, 26:21, 28:26).
Before the game, the two newsmakers of the regular championship «Kalev» (8-10) and «Astana» (12-6) occupied the 8th and 5th places respectively. In the first half, the Kazakhstani team could barely do what allowed them to have the longest active League winning series (5). Having scored 3 points in the first five minutes (3:10), the guests in the first half could not catch a rhythm in the attack (1 out of 9 from behind the arc, 32% from the game), letting the opponent go further and further. Сompletely lost rebound game put the lid on — 15-29. Estonians through the efforts of the trinity of the “small” Branko Mirkovic — Chavon Lewis — Tony Roten made a wide gap after 20 minutes — 48:27.
After the side switching, nothing had changed. “Kalev” continued to control the rebound, played without failures in defense and regularly scored points. Having won another 5 points in the third quarter (26:21), the Estonians withdrew questions about the winner of the game. Success allowed the Balts to gain a foothold in the playoff zone
The top players:
- «Kalev»: Arnett Moultrie (20 + 11 rebounds), Branko Mirkovic (18), Tony Wroten (17 + 8 assists).
- «Astana»: Anthony Clemmons (18 + 5 assists), Jeffrey Grossell (14 + 8 rebounds), Kenneth Horton (11 + 11 rebounds).
«Kalev» head coach Donaldas Kairis:
- Very happy and pleased with today's victory. We are fighting for the playoffs and now every victory counts. But what's more important, we acted as a team today. The guys fought as a single whole and it brought the result. Congratulations to the team — we will continue to fight!
«Astana» head coach Emil Raykovic:
- Congratulations to “Kalev”; they played perfectly today. We could not respond to their aggressiveness and physicality. «Kalev» acted as a team and was able to totally win rebounds. We could not respond; the players were emotionally exhausted. We had the opportunity to fight for the top places, but the game revealed that we need to return to our basics: defense and maximum concentration at every moment of a game. If we forget about it, we will lose to everyone.»
The team will hold the next matches on the road, on March 13 and 14, «Astana» will visit Almaty, where they will meet with the local Almaty «Legion» basketball club in the regular championship of Kazakhstan among the men's teams of the National League.
The next match of the VTB United League team will be held on its court. On Sunday, March 17, «Astana» will host the Belarusian basketball club «Tsmoki Minsk». Tickets for the match are already on sale on the website
Ticketon.kz.
Detailed information about tournaments, tournament tables, the schedule and results of matches are published in the section
Tournaments.
