First Spring Victory in the United League VTB!
«Astana» played its second and final March match at the «Saryarka» Velodrome, defeating «MINSK.»
Despite the Belarusian team «MINSK» being at the bottom of the league table and not having won a match this season, the game was challenging: after a successful first quarter for the Kazakhstani club «Astana,» the opponent got back into the game, and the competition remained high until the final minutes. Nevertheless, Fotios Takianos' team managed to secure a crucial victory in front of their home crowd – 76:70.
The top performers for «Astana» were Royce Hamm (19 points, 11 rebounds), Markell Johnson (12 points, 10 assists), Jordan Skipper-Brown (12 points, 7 rebounds), Devin Davis (11 points, 5 rebounds), and Vasilije Pušica (10 points, 5 assists).
«Congratulations to «Astana» on the victory, Today's match was closely contested, reflecting in both the team statistics and the final score. We approached the match with the right energy. New player Zak Smith played his role, brought energy, and greatly helped us today. With him, it's easier to control the rebounds. Today, we lost only by just three rebounds. Unfortunately, in the end, we had several free throws and missed them. But ultimately, we fine-tuned the hythm and the correct mindset among the players. We will get better to make those very important shots at the end eventually. I talk about this almost after every game, but still, we are persistently working towards this. I'm confident we will achieve our goal,» said «MINSK's» acting head coach, Alexey Sukhovetskiy, after the match.
Now, the team «Astana» has an away series ahead (against «Parizh NN,» «Samara,» and «Runa»), followed by games on March 21 and 24 in Almaty against «Uralmash» and «MBA,» respectively. We will meet again on the capital's court on April 4 – for the home game against «Runa»!
