The first-ever visit of the Presidential Basketball Club «Astana» in Aktobe ended with a confident victory for the wards of Emil Rajkovic.
Two previous games that took place in Nur-Sultan ended with a confident victory for the capital's team, which was a favorite on the rivals' court as well. Among imports playing today, Dusan Ristic and Isaiah Whitehead joined the game. Our guys started the game much more confidently than their rivals and set a frantic pace in the game. Red-and-white did not completely cope with the capital basketball players in the first five minutes, which is why our advantage in the first half of the first quarter was already a decent 14 points. Further, the game took place in a more equal confrontation, and the distance between the teams until the end of the first ten minutes did not change much. “Astana” in the first quarter won 16 points, making a powerful step to win this game. However, “Aktobe” was not going to give up in the second period, having begun to gradually bridge the gap. In five minutes, Aktobe players reduced the gap by five points. However, the activity of the hosts gave a positive effect to the team of Emil Rajkovic, who in the remaining time of the first half of the match looked more confident than their rivals and went on a long break with an advantage of 20 points — 31:51.
After a long break, our rivals completely wilted and could not return to the game for five minutes. During this time, the basketball players of “Astana” significantly increased their advantage, which exceeded thirty points. But in the second half of the third quarter, the hosts began to get a game, and they almost won back 10 points. But in the end, they could not control our guys who felt very comfortable before the fourth quarter with a margin of 29 points. In this situation, it was too optimistic to expect an intrigue in the game, and the hosts' chances for a comeback in the match were vanishing. And yet, our rivals tried to sugar-cover the bitter truth of the impending defeat and scored 6 points in five minutes, but before the end of the match our guys regained their original advantage and eventually won another — the third victory over the team from Aktobe — 65:94 (13:29, 18: 22, 16:25, 18:18).
In this game, “Astana” from the very beginning presented its claim to victory and did not leave any particular chances to the hosts. “Astana” is confidently leading the standings, while “Aktobe” is only on the fifth line.
Most productive:
- “Astana” — the most effective player in the match was Dusan Ristic, who scored 16 points and 9 rebounds. Alexander Zhigulin also got a double-double — 17 points and 10 rebounds. Well, the best in our lineup for assists and steals was Isaiah Whitehead — 7 points, 11 assists, 4 steals.
- «Aktobe” - the main contribution to the result of our rivals was made by Temirlan Dzhunusov — 14 points, 8 assists, and 6 steals, Konstantin Marzan — 15 points and 8 rebounds.
Next match: tomorrow, on December 2, the final game between «Astana» and «Aktobe» will take place in the National League regular season. The match
starts at 20:00, Nur-Sultan time.
We remind you that
Ticketon.kz has already opened the sale of tickets for the home game of the Presidential Basketball Club “Astana” against “Nizhniy Novgorod” as part of the VTB United League, which will be held on December 7 in Nur-Sultan at the Saryarka cycle arena. Do not miss the opportunity to take part in the traditional poster contest in support of your favorite team and win prizes from our mascot
Sammy and the club’s partner,
«Easy Bounce» basketball store, the conditions for participation in the contest are published on our
Instagram page.
Detailed information about the tournament, standings, the schedule and match results are published in the
Tournaments section.
