«Astana» and «Tsmoki-Minsk» held the second game in four days. On Sunday, the Minsk team won at the home arena and actively joined the competition for the playoff.
Opponents in the first minutes exchanged a few long-range shots. But if «Astana» limited itself to one attempt, then the guests' efforts of Daniil Borisevich and Darol Hernandez-Zinenko were twice supported by Alexei Trostinetsky. «Tsmoki» took the lead and, demonstrating balance in attack, kept the advantage due to effective passes in the three-second period — 27:17 after 10 minutes.
In the second quarter, the Belarusians showed their best. For nearly 7 minutes, Astana scored only 2 points. The hosts came to their senses after a three-pointer by Mark Tikhonenko, but by that moment the “dragons” had a two-digit lead, with which they eventually went on a long break – 40:29.
After spending an exemplary 20 minutes, after the change of sides, «Tsmoki» lost their rhythm. Starting with 5 points in a row from Yevgeny Belyankov, the Belarusians then committed several offensive fouls in a row and lost confidence. There followed a 6-minute gap without any points, which could have cost the guests dearly if «Astana» had demonstrated a more coordinated game in attack. Led by Skylar Spencer, the Kazakhs limited themselves to only 12 points per quarter, approaching the decisive segment at a distance of 6 points.
The first minutes of the fourth quarter followed a similar scenario: «Tsmoki '' violated the rules in attack, «Astana '' slowly but surely reduced the backlog. Having won a 6-minute segment with a score of 8:3, the Kazakhs moved the match to the end.
After another time-out by Rostislav Vergun, the Minskers finally carried out a distinct attack, which was completed by Trostyanetsky with a throw from behind the arc. «Astana» in return possession, after several misses, made three rebounds in the attack and eventually scored 1 point thanks to a free throw from Ruslan Aitkali. Then another loss of the Minskers followed and then the same Aitkali equalized the score with a 3-pointer. The last throw for the win by Vladislav Bliznyuk was inaccurate — 55:55 and overtime.
Key moment: The outcome of the match was decided at the end of overtime. 21 seconds before the buzzer, Bliznyuk scored 2 points in the drive, after which he collapsed on the floor with convulsions and did not return to the court. In the return attack, Rustam Murzagaliev found contact with Hernandez-Zinenko and scored two free throws — 64:63 with 15 seconds left. «Tsmoki» effectively played a combination after a timeout, Borisevich was under the basket against Mark Tikhonenko, the player of the Russian national team fouled. Daniil cold-bloodedly returned the lead to the «dragons» with throws from the line. «Astana» had no time-outs left, an attempt to make a pass across the entire court turned into a loss — the Belarusians snatched the victory.
Most productive: Skylar Spencer (16 + 13 rebounds), Rustam Murzagaliev (12), Ruslan Aitkali (11), Oleg Balashov (10 + 7 rebounds).
Acting head coach of «Astana», Dejan Parezanin: «I congratulate «Tsmoki-Minsk» on the victory. I also want to note the good defense of my team. In the first half, we played without energy. In the second half, we adjusted the game in defense and controlled the three-second zone. But in the last 2 minutes of overtime, we lost concentration, which led to the defeat.»
What's next: March 20 home match against «Avtodor».
Detailed information about the tournament, standings, schedule, and match results are published in the
Tournaments section.
