Basketball club «Astana» beat «Tobol» after a day of rest. Our rivals imposed a tough competition for almost three quarters, but at the end of the third period, Darko Russo's wards seized control of the game and did not let it go any other way. In the Cup matches, all teams, including our, can use only players with Kazakhstani passports on the court.
In the very first attack, our captain Rustam Murzagaliev opened the scoring in the match with an accurate throw from behind a three-point arc, but the opponents immediately equalized. «Astana» realized a couple more attacks with the efforts of Oleg Balashov and Maxim Marchuk, but in both cases, «Tobol» gave an equal response. Dmitry Gavrilov scored a couple of points, after which a small goalless pause hung on the court, which was interrupted by the players from Kostanay, thanks to which they took the lead. Three precise free throws from Rustam Murzagaliyev and two more points from Dmitry Gavrilov and “Astana” is in the lead +4. However, for the next couple of minutes, points were earned exclusively by our opponents, who equalized the score, and then they took the lead by four points. At the end of the first quarter, only Ruslan Aitkali earned a couple of points, while «Tobol» retained a slight advantage - 20:16. At the beginning of the second quarter, Makism Marchuk scored an and-one, Robert Pan scored a couple of points, and Vadim Shcherbak was accurate from a long distance. Meanwhile, the rivals also scored a few points, and in the end, the score was evened. In the next five minutes, an equal fight took place on the court, and the leadership constantly passed from one hand to another. During these minutes, Nikolai Bazhin, Rustam Murzagaliev, Ruslan Aitkali, and Dmitry Gavrilov updated their accounts. But in the last couple of minutes of the first half, our team coped well with the opponent in defense and managed to get ahead a little — Maxim Marchuk earned a couple of points, and Dmitry Gavrilov was accurate four times from the penalty line — 32:39.
The first half showed that «Tobol» is very determined and will make every effort to beat our team in this game. However, the beginning of the second half of the match remained entirely with our guys. Despite the two points of the opponents at the very start, for the next three minutes, only the score of “Astana” was updated. Oleg Balashov and Dmitry Gavrilov brought scores to their team, and after the next points from Balashov, Astana's advantage became two-digit. Unfortunately, our team failed to develop its success further, as the Kostanay team began to close the gap, and before the equator of the third period, only Oleg Balashov brought two points to our “piggy bank”. The difference was reduced to four points and our coaching staff had to intervene. After the timeout and until the end of the third period, only two players in our roster earned points — Robert Pan and Rustam Murzagaliev. Robert scored twice in the aisle, and Rustam scored points for every taste — a three-pointer, in the aisle, and four accurate attempts from the free-throw line. By the way, our timeout not only improved the game in attack, but after it, the defense began to work much better. “Tobol” during this time was able to earn only one point. Before the final quarter, the capital's team was in a much more comfortable position — 45:61. The Kostanay players completely lost at the end of the third quarter and could not get together in the fourth one, for five minutes their throws did not reach the goal. The squad of Darko Russo on the contrary confidently went forward. In a couple of minutes from the start of the game, Robert Pan earned a couple of points, and Nikolai Bazhin updated his score by five points. Further, Vadim Shcherbak did not disappoint from the penalty line, and Oleg Balashov was accurate from afar. Closer to the middle of the fourth quarter, our advantage approached 30 points and the victory was already secured. At the end of the match, “Astana” loosened its grip and allowed the opponents to close the gap a little. Only Oleg Balashov updated his score in the last five minutes in our line-up, sending the ball right on target from behind the three-point arc. And in the end, “Astana” won a landslide victory with a score of
50:76.
Most scoring:
- «Astana» — Rustam Murzagaliev again led the team and today he became the most effective and productive — 18 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 interceptions, and 1 block shot. Dmitry Gavrilov earned a double-double — 12 points, 11 rebounds. Oleg Balashov scored 15 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals. Robert Pan chalked up 8 points, 6 rebounds, 5 steals. Maxim Marchuk has 7 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and Nikolay Bazhin has 7 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists.
- «Tobol» — Anton Bykov was the most effective among the opponents — 16 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals. Shaim Kuanov has 8 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists.
Consequences: “Astana” goes through the tournament undefeated and tomorrow will play the main match in the tournament against “Barsy Atyrau”, in which the fate of the main trophy will be decided.
Next match: The final game of the tournament against Bars Atyrau will be decisive. In the upcoming match, which will take place on Wednesday. On February 9, the capital's team will defend its title of Kazakhstan Cup holders. The match starts at 17:00 capital time. The online broadcast of the game will be available on the main page of our website and on the Kazakh sports TV channel INSPORT.
Detailed information about the tournament, standings, schedule, and match results are published in the
Tournaments section.
