Basketball club «Astana» became the first in group «A» of the Kazakhstan Cup, having outplayed the main competitor — Kostanay «Tobol». Emil Rajkovic's wards only with Kazakhstani passports also participated in this game.
The scoring was opened by Rustam Murzagaliev with an accurate three-pointer, Vadim Shcherbak immediately made his attempt from a long distance. Countermeasures of “Tobol” were not long in coming and Kostanay players quickly reduced the gap to a minimum. Until the middle of the first period, Vadim Shcherbak scored seven more points, thanks to which “Astana” came off a little. “Tobol” tried to regain balance, but their attempts were fruitless. Nikolay Bazhin, Anton Ponomarev, Maxim Marchuk, and Rustam Murzagaliev strengthened Astana's positions, increasing the capital's advantage until the end of the first period. As a result, after ten minutes of the game, our team was 16 points ahead of the rivals — 29:13. At the start of the second quarter, the game of our rivals did not go well at all, and our guys continued to increase their lead. After three points from Maxim Marchuk, our team's advantage reached 20 points, and Ponomarev and Shcherbak brought it to 25 points. The Kostanay team gathered momentum and was able to reduce the gap from -25 to -16. But at the end of the first half of the game, thanks to the effective game of Askar Maidekin and Maxim Marchuk, the «Astana» handicap again reached twenty points to 46:26.
“Tobol” started the third period much more confidently. The rival made a spurt of 0: 7, significantly reducing the gap. Only after that, our players were able to open an account in the match, Anton Ponomarev distinguished himself. Then an equal fight ensued, and the score difference did not change much. Immediately after the middle of the quarter, Robert Pan stepped up in attack and, perhaps, he did not score points from the field, but implemented 8 free throws in a row. After that Ruslan Aitkali again brought the difference in the score to twenty points with an accurate three-pointer, and Robert Pan put an end to this quarter — 72:48. The 24 point difference was more than comfortable for «Astana», but our players were able to further strengthen their position at the start of the fourth quarter. Askar Maidekin scored 4 points, and Ruslan Aitkali made another three-point shot and after that, the advantage of our team crossed the line of 30 points. The Kostanay team was again able to make a small breakthrough in the middle of the final quarter and reduced their gap. However, this leap did not represent a real threat to the victory of the capital team. Our advantage exceeded 20 points, and there were literally a few minutes left to play. These minutes “Tobol” spent in vain, while our “big ones” were at their best. Askar Maidekin and Robert Pan updated their personal scores at the end of the match. “Astana” won a landslide victory with a score of 95:61.
Consequences: “Astana” took first place in group “A” and went to the semifinals without any problems, “Tobol” also reached the semifinal stage of the tournament from the second line.
Most productive:
- «Astana» — Robert Pan became the most effective player of the entire match, earning 19 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals. Askar Maidekin scored 14 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 steals. Maxim Marchuk has 11 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals. Vadim Shcherbak shot 15 points today, and Nikolay Bazhin finished the game with ten points.
- «Tobol» — Kostanay team, as always, Anton Bykov showed an excellent game — 19 points, 7 rebounds, 1 block shot. 12 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals from Daniil Seleznev.
Next match: After a day of rest, our guys will have to compete for reaching the final of the tournament with the Aktau «Caspiy», the match which will take place on Monday, March 15, 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.
