Russian CSKA won Astana at home — 81:63 (17:13, 19:17, 18:16, 27:17).
Astana held back the onslaught of CSKA for three-quarters — Robert Lowry became a symbol of the yellow-blue defence (6 interceptions — the second result of the season). The teams kept a 5-8 point difference in the score. Yet wide rotation of army club players borne fruit in the final 10-minute. Tired Kazakhstan players strayed to the individual game in attack, and the red and blue increased the rhythm and went into the lead. During the decisive breakthrough scoring of Nikita Kurbanov was worth special attention; he scored 7 points within two and a half minutes, with a spectacular dunk in one of the attacks. As a result, CSKA finished the game leading more than 18, and thus continuing to top the championship table.
Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA coach:
Congratulations to the team for the victory against serious opponent, the team that plays good basketball this season with clear ideas, athleticism and smart use of big lineups, they are in the chase for playoff spot and gave us good battle today. We played good defense and we do it continuously during last several games. We put the effort in it and pay attention to details. You could expect us to play better offense but we just missed some open shots. We created shots well and I can only applause my players. Unfortunately we just could not make them, even our best shooters like Vitaly, Nando, Dima and Andrey. Besides in the game of such a competitive league we shot just 7 free throws. Still it is good to take the win in our third game in six days.
Ilias Papateodoru, Head coach of Astana:
- Our congratulations to CSKA. We tried to stay focused the whole game, but we played against CSKA, the best team in Europe for the past 10 years. There are not only great players in this club, but also a great inner chemistry. Today we have showed some good moments in the game, but we were not able to maintain the pace of the opponent.
The next match of Astana will be held at home. On 5 February, the capital team will host the Estonian «Kalev» of the VTB United League.
