«Astana» toughs it out in Saratov

«Astana» won the Russian «Avtodor» with the score of 79:78 (24:22, 19: 9, 21:28, 15:19).

After a tie in the first quarter, «Astana» started the second quarter with a margin of 9 points. «Avtodor» got another breath after Nick Minnerath’s shooting, but seven consecutive points by Ian Miller allowed Kazakhs to keep the advantage — 43:31 by the end of the half game. After the change of sides Minnerath and Josh Adams organized the chase. Saratov demonstrated their special quick game style, and scored 28 points in the third quarter, filling the gap to «-5».

Miller and Roderick Long Odom shoots did not help «Astana» off: by joined efforts «Avtodor» continued to score and moved the game to the ending. Saratov fans exploded in ovation when for 40 seconds before the end of the game the captain Sergey Bykov in a difficult passage evened the scores to 77:77. Ian Miller missed in the contra-attack, and everything was in the «Avtodor»’s hands. Nick Minnerath snatched a rebound and in a few seconds forced the opponent to break the rules on him. Missing one of two free throws gave «Astana» another chance. «Astana» seized the opportunity. After a miss of Yan Miller, Leonidas Kaselakis got offensive rebound and brought home the bacon — 78:79 with 7 seconds left. This time was not enough for «Avtodor» to recoup. After a timeout Saratov team made a loss and consequently lost the game. «Astana», thanks to this victory has secured its place in the play-off.
 
The most productive:
 
««Avtodor»»: Nicolas Minnerath (23 + 8 rebounds), Vince Hunter (17), Evgeny Kolesnikov (12), Josh Adams (12), Sergey Bykov (11 + 8 assists).
 
««Astana»»: Ian Miller (24), Robert Lowry (18), Leonidas Kaselakis (12 + 7 assists).

«Avtodor» head coach Vladimir Antsiferov:
– This was a very tough game. We intended to gain the victory, and the game should have been ours. Unfortunately, some of atheltes cooled down, others lost their game. We’ll find it out. In the second half, we grabbed the opportunity, but our opponent’s  successful  actions cut short our efforts. A one-point loss in the final seconds is a tough blow. But we need to keep moving forward. We got unlucky. We have to reagain a quick tempo of the game, which we’ve lost unfortunately. Thanks to the fans for their support.
 
«Astana» head coach Ilias Papatheodorou:
– I think we deserved this win. We controlled the game from the start to finish. We expected pressure from «Avtodor» in the second half. In my opinion, «Avtodor» is one of the best offensive teams in the VTB United League. Our only problem today was that we let them score some easy points in the fast break. After that our opponent got in a rhythm and hit some important three-point shots. But we were very focused. We were ready for «Avtodor»’s reaction and gained a very important win with the final shot. Congratulations to my players.