The away of the basketball club «Astana» with «PARMA» in the framework of the VTB United League was held in the best traditions of the thriller genre and pretty much tickled the nerves of the fans of the capital's team in an incredibly intense ending. Our guys snatched an important victory from the hosts, and Jeremiah Hill updated his personal record for three-pointers per match!
The hosts won the jump ball and in the very first attack sent the ball into the ring from a long distance, but Astana's response was not long in coming and already in the next attack Michael Thompson evened the score with his precise three-pointer. In the next couple of minutes, the hosts rushed forward rapidly, while it cannot be said that our guys did not succeed, but there were definitely problems with the accuracy and this was beneficial for Permians. The PARMA players scored every shot, and three minutes after the start of the match, «Astana» was losing nine points. The situation changed for the better when Ojars Silins joined the game and implemented an accurate long-range shot. In the middle of the first period, the Perm team continued to lead by eight points, but one more accurate three-pointer from Silins reduced the gap of «Astana» to five points. But this was not enough and the Permians again began to go into the lead, and after a couple of minutes they brought the difference in the score to a double-digit figure for the first time in the match. Jeremiah Hill opened the scoring with his precise long-range shot in this match and stopped the rivals' lead, but in the end the lost points at the start really made a difference; the first quarter ended with a score of 24:16 in favor of the hosts. Michael Thompson in the first attack of the second quarter began the come-back of “Astana” to the struggle for leadership. In the third minute of the quarter, Adonis Thomas equalized the score, and then for the first time in the match brought our team forward. However, the hosts were not taken aback and went on imposing their own pace. In the middle of the period, Ojars Silins again made an accurate long-distance shot, with a foul, and these four points again equalized the score on the scoreboard. The game became very dynamic and many long-range shots flew to the target. Two and a half minutes before the break, Adonis Thomas again brought “Astana” forward. Jeremiah Hill caught the courage and sent two more threes right on target until the end of the first half of the match, as well as Martins Meyers and Vadim Shcherbak from beyond the arc. The first half ended when the score was 45:51 in our favor, but after the game and having watched the video replay of the ending, the judges fouled “Astana” and appointed two free throws, which were realized. Thus, the first half of the meeting ended with the score — 47:51.
The four points difference in the score did not mean much, and our rivals quickly proved this, immediately scoring three points at the start of the second half of the match. Now “Astana” clung to its leadership, and the distance between the teams in the first minutes of the quarter jumped from three to one point in our favor. As a result, «PARMA» achieved their goal and again took the lead, but not for long. The effective attacks of Marble and Silins again equalized the score and Jeremiah Hill returned «Astana» the role of the leader. The hosts did not give up and stepped on our heels in an attempt to catch up with our guys. Until the end of the third quarter, the score became equal again, but Jeremiah was unstoppable and worked wonders today from behind the arc, making another long-distance attempt, and setting the final score after three quarters — 67:70. It is also worth noting that with this three-pointer, Hill updated his personal record in his career, which was now equal to seven three-pointers per game. The game was very nervous, of course this could not but affect the players and their performance. Each point was worth as gold, and this made it much more difficult to score. Coaches also encouraged their players to play more tactical basketball. The score increased very slowly and in five minutes the teams had thirteen points — seven for “PARMA” and six for “Astana”. All these points were scored in a very fierce struggle, Devin Marble and Martins Meyers distinguished themselves in the Astana camp. A little more than three minutes before the final buzzer, a lot of interesting things happened on the court, but apart from two precise free throws from Michael Thompson, the teams did not score points. The pressure grew in the last one and a half minutes. Devin Marble earned two points and brought the advantage of “Astana” to six, but after that “PARMA” realized a long-range hit. Emil Rajkovic took another time-out to brief his players, and a little more than one minute remained until the end of the match. After the tactical pause of «Astana», everything started to unravel pretty quickly. Thomas and Meyers dealt with the opponent's defense and +5 for “Astana” as a result, but a precise three-pointer from the Permians made the difference in the score look intriguing again. Thirty seconds before the end of the match, our team was leading by only one point and used the maximum amount of time in the last attack, but the throw was inaccurate.
In other words, «PARMA» had no time left for the rebound, even to transfer the ball to the other half of the court, and the shot from their own half of the court did not reach the goal. The result of the match was the victory of “Astana” with the score 83:84.
Most productive:
- «PARMA» - Perm guards Lorenzo Williams and Adas Yushkevichus scored 15 points each, while Lorenzo has 5 rebounds and assists, Adas had 6 assists. Forwards Mareks Meyeris and Eigirdas Zhakauskas are the leaders of the rebound team in this match — Mareks has 8 and 9 points and Eigirdas has 11 points.
- «Astana» — Jeremiah Hill updated his personal record in three-pointers by scoring seven of them and scoring 21 points, he also made 3 rebounds, made 5 assists, 3 steals and 1 block shot. Devin Marble was very stable in this match and showed a confident game — 16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists. Martins Meyers played excellently under the basket and brought the most important points at the very end of the game — 14 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block shot. Ojars Silins dispersed our team well in the first period — 12 points, 4 rebounds. Michael Thompson took on quite a lot of rough work — 9 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists. In controversial moments, Adonis Thomas took the initiative and invariably brought our team forward — 7 points, 3 rebounds.
Head coach of «PARMA» — Kazys Maksvytis:
«We lost, and I, as a coach, must take this defeat upon myself. The team fought, but, unfortunately, played with a bad mental attitude. They acted more actively in attack than in defense. Before the game, I said that matches are won by playing on defense and with the mentality of the defending team. We made many mistakes today. We need to fix this. Getting ready for the next game.»
Head coach of «Astana» — Emil Rajkovic:
«I would like to congratulate «PARMA” on a good game. It is always a pleasure to play at Molot with the fans in the stands. It was a nice change of scenery. For us, the recent period would be difficult and, perhaps, this is only the second game in which we played as a full squad. We had some mistakes in the game, but the team acted more collected this time. We played better offensively and stuck to the plan. This is a very important victory for us and I hope that we will play better in the next match.»
Next match: before the end of this year, the team of Emil Rajkovic will have to play another VTB United League match, which will take place on Saturday, December 26 — our guys will host the tournament leaders — “Zenit” St. Petersburg.
Detailed information about the tournament, tournament tables, schedule, and match results are published in the
Tournaments section.
