Despite the fierce resistance of «Barsy Atyrau», following the results of the second match of the away series in the National League, the team of the basketball club «Astana» again wins a landslide victory and returns from Atyrau undefeated. In this game, Emil Rajkovic again released Devin Marble on the court, and Jeremiah Hill played instead of Michael Thompson.
As well as in the match the day before, Anton Ponomarev opened the score, and just like in yesterday's game, in the first quarter an intense stubborn struggle ensued. The hosts immediately equalized the score, demonstrating their confidence. After that, Dmitriy Gavrilov again brought our team forward, “Barsy” again immediately reacted and prevented the threat. By the middle of the quarter, the Atyrau team took the lead for the first time in the match, and our guys took on the role of catching up and performed it for more than four minutes, until two minutes before the end of the first quarter Devin Marble made the score equal. The hosts clung to their advantage as best they could, but in the end the first ten minutes remained with our team, though with a minimal advantage — 16:17. The start of the second quarter went according to our scenario, in defense, the capital's basketball players gave it 100%, and at the same time they continued to restrain the hosts in their attacks. During the first five minutes of the quarter, “Barsy Atyrau” managed to score only one point, and in the fourth minute Robert Pan brought the capital's advantage to a double-digit figure. In total, in the middle of the quarter, “Astana” was 12 points ahead of their rivals. The double-digit difference between the teams did not last long, “Barsy Atyrau” were able to return to the game and made an attempt to catch up at the start of the second period. Before the big break, they noticeably pulled away but could not catch up with “Astana” — 33:38.
In the first half, like yesterday, an equal fight ensued, except for the attack of “Astana” at the start of the second quarter, we can say with confidence that the teams were on an equal footing. After a long break, Emil Rajkovic’s players were again able to pull away. A little over a minute later in the third period, Dmitriy Gavrilov again reached a double-digit difference. “Barsy Atyrau” were not upset, they were able to gather their strength and rushed to even the score. In the second half of the third quarter, almost all effective attacks were completed by Nikolay Bazhin, who scored 9 points and did not allow the opponents to level the score. As a result, after thirty minutes of the game, our team was in the lead by 12 points — 48:60. In the last quarter, our guys were controlling the situation on the court. Maxim Marchuk brought Astana's advantage to 15 points already in the third minute of the quarter. The Atyrau team tried to catch up with our team, but “Astana” fought back and five minutes before the end of the match Rustam Murzagaliev again brought the gap to fifteen points. The hosts tried to impose a struggle, but time was playing in our favor. The double-digit difference continued between the teams, with Devin Marble increasing it to 20 points. In the remaining three minutes “Astana” confidently played their game and, as a result, won another victory over rivals from Atyrau — 67:88.
Most productive:
- “Barsy Atyrau” — Edward Carter III became the most productive in the camp of our rivals — 22 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists. Pavel Sizov had 17 points.
- “Astana” — Nikolay Bazhin became the most effective in the whole match — 22 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists. Devin Marble had 13 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals. On account of Jeremiah Hill there are 10 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists, and Dmitriy Gavrilov scored 9 points and 7 rebounds.
Consequences: “Astana” improved their position now and has a good lead over its closest rival in the standings. “Barsy Atyrau” are still on the third line.
Next match: after returning home, our team will have less than a week to prepare for the home match with “Nizhniy Novgorod” in the VTB United League, which is scheduled for December 5th. As for the games of the National League, the next rival of “Astana” will be “Almaty Legion”, which will meet with our team on December 8 and 9 in the southern capital.
Detailed information about the tournament, tournament tables, schedule and match results are published in the
Tournaments section.
