For almost two months, the «Saryarka» cycle track «stood idle,» and today, the stands were whole again, and «Astana» played the second home game of the season. The Krasnoyarsk team “Enisey” came to visit Nur-Sultan. In the next match, Darko Russo trusts the start of the game to the same players — Jaylen Barford, Anthony Hickey, Skylar Spencer, Antonio Campbell, and Maxim Marchuk.
The guests won the jumping ball and immediately opened the score in the game with an accurate throw from beyond the arc. But we didn't have to wait long for our players — Jaylen Barford earned the first points for «Astana» in the game, and then Anthony Hickey brought the capital's team forward. Hickey and Barford implemented a couple more attacks, and the hosts were leading by five points. «Enisey» won back its lag by the middle of the period, but then there was a three-pointer streak — Antonio Campbell again brought «Astana» forward. Still, a distant response from the rivals immediately came. Maxim Marchuk scored again from beyond the arc and got our team in the lead again. The competitors came close, but Campbell's long-range throw let down, and then Burford's 2 points brought six points for «Astana.» However, the opponents did not give up their positions and successfully «fired» from a distance. Another three points from Antonio Campbell and two from Anthony Hickey and Nikolay Bazhin brought our advantage to double-digit for the first time. After a powerful dunk from the opponents, Hickey stole the ball and realized a quick lead in the last seconds of the period — 28:18.
An excellent game in the first quarter bore fruit, and our team looked good in the second quarter. A double-digit figure separated the teams for the first three minutes, although during this time, only Jaylen Barford was able to score a three-pointer in this game. None of the Astana players could distinguish himself. «Enisey» rebuilt their game and put pressure all over the court, and played very effectively in defense. Our attack noticeably «stalled,» and our scoreboard numbers slowly changed. The opponent was able to cut the gap in half. Oleg Balashov opened his scoring in the game by realizing a free throw right after the equator of the second quarter. Krasnoyarsk players equalized the score after more than three minutes of a goalless pause from «Astana.» Barford interrupted the lull and again brought «Astana» to the lead, but not for long — 30 seconds before the big break, the score was again equal. And yet the last points, or rather a point, were in favor of our team — Jaelen converted a free throw- 35:34. Although even looking at the score, we can say that the first half was equal, the statistics showed the same after two periods. «Astana» threw a little better from the field, but «Enisey» balanced it with free throws; according to other indicators, the game was also relatively equal.
Darko Russo made adjustments during the long break, which were beneficial to our team. They got off to a great start in the second half with a 9-0 snatch. Barford, Hickey, Marchuk, and Campbell took part in this sprint. Kazakhstan's advantage was double-digit again before the guests opened their score. «Astana» continued to go into the lead, again distinguished themselves by Jaylen Barford and Maxim Marchuk. In the middle of the third period, our pace dropped noticeably, but our opponents could not find their game either — for three minutes, the game went on without points. The rivals interrupted this pause, but Skylar Spencer immediately scored his first points in the match with an effective dunk. «Enisey» became more active at the end of the third period, but points from Spencer, Tikhonenko, and Marchuk retained a double-digit handicap after thirty minutes of the game — 56:46. The fourth quarter started quite promising; apart from two points from rivals at the beginning of the period, Burford earned three points, and Spencer and Tikhonenko scored two each. Our advantage reached fifteen points. In the middle of the period, the competitors did their best to turn the tide of the match, but points from Barford and Campbell kept our advantage in the region of 14-13 points. The plus thirteen gap was quite comfortable with four minutes left, but the next three minutes were unfortunate. «Enisey» sharpened the intrigue to the utmost and at the beginning of the last minute was only 4 points behind. Antonio Campbell realized the alley-oop. There was not much time left, about thirty seconds, and 6 points, although the lag was not quite comfortable, still played in our favor. But then the «and one» from the rivals followed, and the difference was reduced to three points. «Enisey» already some time ago started playing aggressively in offense and then made our team make a very unnecessary mistake when throwing in the ball into the field, which cost us a considerable price. «Enisey» took advantage of the chance, scoring from behind the arc and leveling the score. «Astana» still had a lot of time to regain the lead, but it did not work out to use its chances wisely. «Enisei» could also not use the remaining seconds, and the game continued into overtime — 70:70.
The teams invariably realized the first attacks in extra time, the guests began scoring in overtime, and «Astana» was in the catch-up role. Nikolay Bazhin and Antonio Campbell were gaining points, and Anthony Hickey brought «Astana» ahead for the first time in overtime. The teams exchanged effective attacks, and the role of the leader, Bazhin distinguished himself in our squad, but in the end, «Enisey» was able to come off a little. The five points difference was not critical, but missing in the ending only worsened our situation. Jaylen Barford scored a couple more points, but that was not enough, and «Astana» lost —
80:87.
Most productive:
- «Astana» — Jaylen Barford, after an unsuccessful game in Estonia, showed today the game at his usual high level — 26 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Antonio Campbell was very good in the first period, scoring three long shots, and was effective throughout the game — 17 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists. Skylar Spencer scored only 5 points today but picked up 12 bounces, while 6 under competitor's basket; in addition, he gave 2 assists and blocked opponents twice. Anthony Hickey was not as effective today as in previous games but still scored very decent numbers — 11 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists, 6 steals, 1 block shot. Maksim Marchuk, as always, took on a lot of rough work and scored 9 points and 5 rebounds, but due to too many fouls, he could not help the team at the end of the game. Finally, Nikolay Bazhin scored 6 points and 6 rebounds.
- «Enisey» — Oleksandr Gudumak and Rayon Brown played a decisive game against the opponents, who, by the way, scored more points at the end of regular time, moving the match into overtime. Casper Weir and Vladislav Trushkin also had an excellent game.
«Astana» head coach — Darko Russo:
- Unfortunately, we have lost the game. I don't know how many points you need to score with a minute left to win. With 50 seconds left, we won 6 points, but Enisey managed to equalize the score. When we played fast and made quick decisions, we scored easy points in the fast break. When we slowed down the game, tried to act effectively, or to impress the public, we gave «Yenisei» the opportunity to return to the game. I am very upset as we should have won.
«Enisey» head coach — Drazen Anzulovic:
- Congratulations to my team; this is a great victory for us. It is always challenging to play against «Astana» on their home court, especially this season. We approached this game with respect and hoped to win. We didn't start the match the way we wanted, especially on defense. In the second quarter, everything was perfect, we controlled the course of the game, and in the third, quarter we had problems again. However, we showed character and fighting spirit, returned to the game, and secured a significant victory.
Consequences: «Astana» gave way to «Enisey» in the standings, dropping to the tenth position.
Next match: Literally in a day, Kostanay «Tobol» will come to the capital to visit our team to play the second two-league series in the National League
on December 12 and 13. The next rival of «Astana» in the VTB United League will be «Parma-Parimatch», which will meet in Perm
on December 19.
Detailed information about the tournament, tournament tables, schedule, and match results are published in the
Tournaments section.
