Basketball club «Astana» interrupts a series of defeats in the VTB United League and retains a chance to reach the playoffs, having won a strong-willed victory in the away game with «Tsmoki Minsk». A great gift for all fans for Nauryz!
Emil Rajkovic entrusted the start of the match to the next five — Ojars Silins, Nikolay Bazhin, Maxim Marchuk, Eric Buckner and Michael Thompson. The jump ball was won by Erik Buckner and in the very first attack Ojars Silins scored a three-pointer, and Nikolay Bazhin supported our spurt with his three as well. The hosts were taken aback by such a brisk start and were able to score their first points with a lag of -6. However, after that our team had difficulties, when only one point was obtained from Ojars Silins, and the hosts at that time quickly recouped and took the lead. The time-out at the request of Emil Rajkovic was not long in coming. Silins made a comeback, he leveled the score, but the Belarusians immediately gave an effective response and again took the lead. Then Eric Buckner earned an unsportsmanlike foul and converted two free throws, after which he leveled the score with a powerful dunk. The hosts kept their finger on the pulse and responded in time with their counterattacks, again going forward. Until the end of the first quarter, the initiative was taken by Jerimiah Hill. At first he did a great job in the paint, gaining two points, and then sent two accurate shots from beyond the arc, thanks to which «Astana» took the lead again. Unfortunately, at the end of the quarter, only the hosts scored points, who evened the score — 24:24. The start of the second game segment turned out to be extremely productive. The first points in this quarter were scored by Rustam Murzagaliyev, hitting the target twice from the penalty line in the third minute, after an unsportsmanlike foul. By the way, it should be noted that the hosts very quickly exhausted their limit of fouls. However, our players did not always successfully execute their free throws, and at the same time, the Kazakh team scored all points in the first half of the second period from the penalty line. In the middle of the period the hosts were ahead of our team by two points, but Hill earned the first points from the game for “Astana” in this quarter, and even from a long distance, leading our team forward. Before the big break, Jeremiah Hill and Michael Thompson demonstrated outstanding performance. In the end, Eric Buckner was injured, earning a foul, but Anton Ponomarev made free throws for him and scored only one of two shots, after which “Astana” was in the lead by three points. There was still time for the attack, but the “Dragons” did not play well and they lost the ball. Our guys had three seconds, but the shot from Hill from the middle of the court bounced back. The teams left for the long break when the score was 40:43.
In the third quarter, Eric Buckner showed excellent play, who opened the scoring in the second half with a powerful tomahawk dunk. Maxim Marchuk supported Astana's lead, but «Tsmoki» each time found strength for retaliatory attacks and did not allow our team to go into a serious lead. By the middle of the period, Emil Rajkovic's players managed to tip the scales to their side. Eric Buckner became the main hero on the court, who not only handed out block shots and collected rebounds, but also actively scored points. In seven minutes, they chalked up 8 effective points and it was he who brought the advantage of the Kazakhstani squad to a double-digit figure. The hosts tried to get closer to our team, narrowing the gap, but in the end Jeremiah Hill rejoined, who retained a double-digit advantage for our team — 51:62. In the third period, “Astana” looked much more cheerful than the hosts, but 11 points is not such a comfortable advantage to relax. Moreover, the hosts began to play more confidently than in the previous period and began to attack even more actively. The points from Vadim Shcherbak, Michael Thompson and Eric Buckner preserved the advantage for “Astana”, but by the middle of the period it was reduced to 7 points. The Dragons continued to push, but Buckner was on fire today and maintained the advantage of his team. Despite this, the gap between the teams was reduced to 4 points, but after the next points from Eric and Jeremiah it went up to 8. True, there was still quite a lot of play left — three minutes, and the Belarusian players did not slow down and greatly aggravated the situation on the court, when their lag was reduced to a minimum one and a half minutes before the end of the match. Neither team had the right to make a mistake, and Erik Buckner, realizing this, sent the ball straight into the opponents' net. But in defense it was not possible to win back so well — two realized free throws and again only +2. There were just over forty seconds left and our players possessed the ball, but they did not use the chance to strengthen their position. The hosts had plenty of offensive time to win this game or put it into overtime. But an excellent game in defense, and somewhere, perhaps, luck, brought an important victory today — 78:80.
Consequences: “Astana” strengthened its position, broke away from “Yenisey” and came close to “Kalev”, and more importantly, retained the chances of entering the playoff. “Tsmoki-Minsk” even before the game lost its chances for the final part of the tournament.
Most productive:
- «Tsmoki-Minsk» — Derek Cook brought the most troubles to our team in this match, earning a double-double — 10 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 block shots. Chris Cliburn became the most productive in the team — 17 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals and a block shot.
- «Astana» — Eric Buckner had an excellent match and became the most effective in our team — 21 points, 11 rebounds and 3 block shots. Jeremiah Hill scored the most points in the game — 22 points, also on his account 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Ojars Silins chalked up 9 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and a block shot. Michael Thompson has 9 points and 3 assists.
«Tsmoki-Minsk» head coach — Rostislav Vergun:
- Unfortunately, for us the season has developed in such a way that when most of the teams have reached the home stretch, our guys have to get used to their new roles. This process is not always smooth and simple. But today we saw that there are changes for the best. I am grateful to the players for their character, fighting qualities and the desire not to give in to the end. We managed to return, although there was a bad stretch in the second half. Let's get ready for Wednesday's game.
«Astana» head coach — Emil Rajkovic:
- It was a tough game, but we knew it would be that way: Minsk always plays with lost of energy. We controlled the game and were leading more than 10 points in the second half, but allowed «Tsmoki» to return. The ending turned out to be interesting, and, fortunately, we won. We should keep this attitude, but without the possibility for the opponent to revenge. I am glad of this victory also because today we have involved 11 players. This is a contribution to our future.
Next match: Less than a week later, on March 25, «Astana» will play at home in a return match with Polish «Zielona Gora» within the framework of the VTB United League.
Detailed information about the tournament, tournament tables, schedule and match results are published in the
Tournaments section.
