Kazakhstan «Astana» defeated at home the Russian «PARMA» with the score 79:71.
Thanks to the actions of Ken Brown the guests seized the control of the game at the beginning, «Astana» nevertheless, made a 14-4 spurt, quickly turned the tide in their favor. Kenneth Horton (twice) and Stephen Holt with their accurate throws from beyond the arc gave «Astana» a double advantage by the end of the first quarter — 24:12. In the second quarter «PARMA» managed to level the game up and reduce the gap to «-5». But closer to the big break, the American legion of Astana, led by Jay O'Brien, restored the status quo; the first half ended with a score of 43:30 in favor of the hosts.
Then the Ural players made several attempts to catch up with «Astana». The most promising one occurred in the fourth quarter when Tre McLean reduced the score difference to “-6 ″ with the score 65:59 and with two three-pointers in a row. O’Brien and Jeffrey Grossell again created a double-digit advantage for «Astana», but once again, Tre McLean helped «PARMA» not to let the opponent go far. And yet, the commencing comeback of “PARMA” was strangled by all the same Grossell, O’Brien and Michael Jenkins, competently provoking the opponent to fouls and confidently realizing free throws. Having brought the match to Victoria, “Astana” not only set a new club record for victories (14) but also continued the pursuit of teams from the top three.
The most effective players:
- «Astana»: JJ O'Brien (20 + 9 assists), Michael Jenkins (17 + 5 assists), Kenneth Horton (15 + 10 rebounds + 5 assists), Jeffrey Groscell (10 + 9 rebounds)
- «PARMA»: Tre McLean (18 + 6 rebounds), Ken Brown (15 + 5 assists)
The hero is — JJ O’Brien. The “Astana” guard hardly left the court, having spent nearly 37 minutes in the end, and naturally became the best in the match with scored points (20) and assists (9).
The figure is — 14 victories. New team record from the capital of Kazakhstan. The previous one (13 wins) was achieved in the season 2014/15.
«Astana» head coach Emil Raykovic:
- I am pleased to congratulate the team on this victory. She became for us the 14th in the season and this is the club record of “Astana” in the VTB League. I am proud of my players, coaches and the whole staff. I hope the fans will see that they have a truly special team in the city and it deserves their support. I encourage football, hockey, and other fans to come to our next matches and support «Astana».
The head coach of “PARMA” Vyacheslav Shushakov:
- Today there was a definite plan for the match, and we followed it. But in the end, we gave up; it was necessary to play harder, foul, but the players forgot about it. This allowed «Astana» to create the necessary difference in the score. We were able to win the third and fourth quarter — this is a positive moment. This attitude will be useful to us in the next matches, where we will try to win».
The team will hold the next matches in the
Kazakhstan Cup, which will be held in Almaty from April 2 to 6.
The next match of «Astana» in the VTB United League will be held on the road, on April 11, the capital basketball players will meet with the leaders of the tournament Moscow «CSKA».
Detailed information about tournaments, tournament tables, the schedule and results of matches are published in the section
Tournaments.
