Basketball club «Astana» held the third game in five days in the VTB League and this time the opponent was another leader of the tournament — UNICS Kazan. The Kazakh team, especially the leaders, did their best in the game, which took place just a couple of days ago. And today our guys simply did not have enough energy. Skylar Spencer, Anthony Hickey, Antonio Campbell, Maxim Marchuk, and Rustam Murzagaliev started the game.
The Kazan team won the jumping ball, but the score in the match was opened only after a minute and a half of the game and the score was opened by a player from our squad — Antonio Campbell, who managed to score one free throw, followed by the first three-pointer in the game. Only after that, the opponent was able to open their score but quickly caught up with our team. Up to the equator of the first quarter, “Astana” made a breakthrough and was in the lead by six points in the middle of the period. Maxim Marchuk, Anthony Hickey, and Skylar Spencer excelled in this spurt. Guests from Kazan were not productive, and the Kazakh team used their opportunities quite well. Anthony Hickey scored from the drive, and after a three-pointer from Mark Tikhonenko «Astana» was in the lead by seven points. Anthony Hickey maintained this lead until the end of the first ten minutes by first converting an and-one and then a dunk. Although the last one who achieved success in the first quarter was our rivals, with their three-pointer. «Astana» won the first period with a score of 20:16. At the start of the second quarter, the teams were not productive. In a couple of minutes, the teams exchanged long-range shots, Oleg Balashov scored for us. After Anthony Hickey scored an and-one, scoring a free throw, Antonio Campbell was accurate from an average distance. But the opponent did not lag behind and in the middle of the quarter, the team was still separated by four points. After the quarter's equator, Maksim Marchuk scored a dunk after a spectacular pass from Anthony Hickey, but as it turned out, these were the last points of our team in the first half. For the last four minutes, only the Kazan team scored points, which, as a result, won the first half with a score of 30:38. After the first half, the Kazakh team was inferior in the game under the basket, collecting ten rebounds less than the opponents, we also lacked accuracy in shots from behind the arc, and the rest of the statistics of the teams were equal.
At the end of the second quarter, “warning signs” began to appear in our team. The rivals seized the initiative, and our leaders, playing almost without substitutions for the third match in five days, showed signs of fatigue and a decline in speed. Do not forget that UNICS is the leader of the season and has a well-balanced roster and a good rotation. And the first quarter, which was not the best in terms of their performance, began to be noticeably compensated in the second period. At the beginning of the third period, the guests quickly reached a double-digit advantage. Skylar Spencer and Mark Tikhonenko held back the opponents from the further breakaway, but these were the only points of our team in the first five minutes of the third quarter. Kazan played better in the middle and second half of the third period and increased their lead. Until the end of the quarter, only Anthony Hickey distinguished himself in our squad, who earned six points. UNICS in the third ten-minute period scored another ten points and led by eighteen points before the final quarter — 40:58. The difference between the teams was substantial and it was very difficult to play it back over the last ten minutes, especially since our team's game was not going well. Kazan quickly got a twenty points advantage. At the start of the quarter, Skylar Spencer scored in the drive and Oleg Balashov earned two points, but then again our players could not score points for more than four minutes. Five minutes before the end of the match, our team lost thirty-three points and the outcome of the game could be already envisaged. In the last five minutes, there was equal competition, and the difference did not change much. Points in our roster were earned by Anthony Hickey, Nikolai Bazhin, and Skylar Spencer. Bazhin and Spencer were the last ones to score points and set the final score of the match —
53:84 — a major defeat for «Astana».
Most scoring:
- «Astana» — Anthony Hickey became the most productive player of the match — 20 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists. Skylar Spencer scored the most efficiency points in the game and earned a double-double — 10 points, 12 rebounds, 4 blocks. Antonio Campbell scored 6 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists today. And Maxim Marchuk chalked up 4 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists.
- UNICS – four players from Kazan scored more than ten points at once, and Isea Kenen and Mario Hezonha became the best.
«Astana» head coach — Darko Russo:
«Congratulations to UNICS on the victory. They play very well in defense. UNICS also demonstrates good team play both in defense and in the attack. This is one of the best teams I've ever played against. If they always play like today, then the chances of defeating them are few. At the same time, I understand my players — it was the 3rd game in 6 days. I'm not happy that we lost by 30 points, but after a long break, we just didn't have the energy.»
UNICS head coach — Velimir Perasovic:
«We started the game very mildly and acted uncertainly in the attack. But in the second half, we started to play better, keep our concentration, move the ball, thanks to which we managed to bring the game to a confident victory.»
Consequences: «Astana», despite the defeat, retained the ninth line obtained a couple of days ago.
Next match: As part of the VTB United League, the capital team will now play on March 7, when the Estonian Kalev will come to visit us on a return visit. And before that, the players of «Astana» as part of the National Team will play two away matches of qualification for the World Cup - on February 24 against Iran and on February 27 against Bahrain.
Detailed information about the tournament, standings, schedule, and match results are published in the
Tournaments section.
