«Astana» started the Final Eight of the West Asian Super League with a victory over the local team, «Shabab Al-Ahli.»
Oleg Kiselev's team took the lead from the very start and only lost it twice, and even then, only for a short time, totaling 26 seconds. At one point, the Kazakhstani team had a 17-point lead.
The match's second half proved challenging as the hosts narrowly won the third and fourth quarters. Nevertheless, the «Astana» players scored enough points to maintain their lead and secure a victory with a final score of 80-73.
The standout player for «Astana» was Markell Johnson, who scored 16 points and made 7 assists. The debutants for the Kazakhstani club, Carvell Anderson (19 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists) and Martin Krampelj (12 points, 3 rebounds), also performed well.
Among the Kazakhstani basketball players, Dmitry Gavrilov (8 points, 4 rebounds), Rustam Murzagaliyev (10 points, 4 rebounds), and Ruslan Aitkali (12 points, 4 made three-pointers out of 6 attempts) deserve special mention. It is noteworthy that «Astana» converted all 15 free throws.
The top performer for «Shabab Al-Ahli» was Ukrainian center Artem Pustovyi, who scored 21 points and had 14 rebounds.
The next match for «Astana» will take place on June 11 at 18:00 local time. Their opponent will be the Iranian team, «Shahrdari Gorgan.»
Detailed information about the tournament, standings, schedule, and match results are published in the
Tournaments section.
