Basketball club «Astana» confidently started at the Kazakhstan Cup in Shchuchinsk, leaving no chances to the other team in the group. Note that only Kazakhstani players can participate in matches, so Emil Rajkovic, like other coaches, cannot use foreign players.
Practically from the start of the game, it became clear that the Kazakh players would cope with their rivals without the help of foreigners. The first points in the match were scored by Rustam Murzagaliyev, who was accurate from the penalty line three times. Then the yellow-turquoise team scored another 6 points in a row, and only after that, the Aktobe team were able to score the net of our team. Meanwhile, our captain, already in the third minute of the match, brought the advantage to a double-digit figure. Before the equator of the period, after the effective attacks of Maxim Marchuk, the score of “Astana” has already exceeded twenty points. The second half of the first quarter was not as productive as the first five minutes, but the capital team was confidently in the lead and eventually scored 32 points, having a solid lead — 12:32. In the second period, our guys also felt confident and this was confirmed by the breakthrough, which brought our advantage to thirty points. “Aktobe” scored their first points in the quarter only closer to the middle of the period. The last five minutes of the first half passed more smoothly. The final score in the first half was set by Robert Pan, and «Astana» won 31 points after two quarters, allowing the opponents to score only 20 points in the first twenty minutes of the meeting — 20:51.
After a long break, Andrey Litvinenko, Robert Pan, and Ruslan Aitkali brought benefits to their team, and their points only widened the capital's gap. In the middle of the third quarter, the «griffins» stepped up and showed a good game, they managed to win back a small part of the gap. However, at the end of the period, “Astana” again seized the initiative and after points from Andrey Litvinenko, Askar Maidekin, and Maxim Marchuk, the lead of “Astana” again exceeded thirty points — 37:71. Such a difference before the last quarter already fully predicted the outcome of this game. In the first five minutes of the last period, the difference in the score remained practically unchanged, and our team was confidently going to victory. After another three-pointer from Vadim Shcherbak, five minutes before the end of the match, “Astana” was leading by 36 points, but our guys did not stop there. In the last minutes, they were actively gaining points — Ruslan Aitkali, Askar Maidekin, Vadim Shcherbak, and Andrey Litvinenko scored goals. Thanks to their efforts, the advantage increased by another 8 points, reaching 44 points in the end, and «Astana» stopped one step away from a hundred — 53:97.
Consequences: “Aktobe” lost the second game in the group, thereby depriving them of the opportunity to reach the semifinals. Thus, “Astana”, after one victory, secured an exit to the semifinals of the tournament.
Most productive:
- «Aktobe» — the best in the team were Sergey Bormatenkov — 19 points, 8 rebounds, and Vasily Petrishinets — 18 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals.
- «Astana» — the most effective player of the whole match was Maxim Marchuk — 18 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 7 steals. Ruslan Aitkali scored 16 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. On account of Vadim Shcherbak there are 14 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists. Robert Pan and Askar Maidekin each earned 13 points, in addition, Robert had 7 rebounds, and Askar had 3 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block shot. Andrey Litvinenko scored 11 points, 4 rebounds, and made 5 assists today.
Next match: The second rival of the capital team in the group stage of the tournament will be Kostanay «Tobol», the game will take place on Saturday, March 13, beginning at 17:30 Nur-Sultan time. Online broadcast of the match will be available on the home page of our website and on our
YouTube channel.
Detailed information about the tournament, tournament tables, schedule and match results are published in the
Tournaments section.
