«Astana» lost with a small difference to the Belarusian «Tsmoki-Minsk» — 66:60 (22:17, 14:7, 17:24, 13:12).
«Tsmoki-Minsk» (1-10) and «Astana» (3-8) claim to participate in the playoffs, the first face-to-face meeting in Minsk was extremely important for both rivals (on March 17, the teams will meet in Nur-Sultan).
The teams that have changed during the pause rolled into the game for a long time, not pleasing the audience with high performance. The hosts were the first to find their pace. When the starting quarter reached the middle, a series of shots by Yevgeny Belyankov allowed «Tsmoki-Minsk» to take the lead and get +5 after 10 minutes.
In the second quarter, the advantage of the Belarusians became even more tangible. If «Astana» relied on individual actions and long-range shots (33.3%), the Minsk players acted more as a team, creating good opportunities for attack. The second game segment ended with a score of 14:7, by the big break the «dragons» led 36:24.
After the change of sides, «Astana» has transformed. The team from Kazakhstan stopped relying on 3-pointers and added to the movement of the ball. Rustam Murzagaliyev was the leader of the guests, but the 24 points scored in total and the return to the game took place primarily thanks to team efforts — 53:48 in favor of «Tsmoki» before the decisive 10-minute period.
In the fourth quarter, the fans watched the classic basketball swing. «Astana» twice approached the distance of 2 points, but «Tsmoki» still withstood the pressure and went to the end with a 5-point advantage.
Key moment: A minute and a half before the final buzzer, Mark Tikhonenko once again brought «Astana» closer to the opponent with a throw from behind the paint (60:63). Then the teams exchanged a few fruitless attacks, and 42 seconds before the end, Vladislav Bliznyuk scored a difficult 2 points in the drive. The Kazakhs again tried to respond with a shot from behind the arc, but Murzagaliev missed. Belarusians gave the opponent one more chance to save when they didn't manage to transfer the ball to the opponent's half in 8 seconds. In response, another inaccurate long-range shot followed — this time by Nikolai Bazhin — after that, the guests no longer had time to save.
Most productive: Rustam Murzagaliev (17 + 5 rebounds + 5 assists), Mark Tikhonenko (10 + 6 rebounds), Nikolay Bazhin (9 + 5 rebounds).
«Astana» head coach — Darko Russo: «First of all, I want to thank the team from Minsk. They had a good game, they were good both in defense and in attack, they also shared the ball well. And I think we lost this game in the first half of the match, having made too many mistakes. We started playing much better in defense in the second half. We were close enough to win this match. Soon we will meet with «Tsmoki» again, and I hope that my team will play much smarter.»
What's next: March 17 at home return match against «Tsmoki» Minsk.
Detailed information about the tournament, standings, schedule, and match results are published in the
Tournaments section.
