Pari Nizhny Novgorod defeated Astana at home – 94:72 (27:14, 31:18, 16:26, 20:14).
Game progress
Both teams started the game well and scored 21 points combined with only 1 missed shot – 12:9. Andrey Vorontsevich and Uladzislau Blizniuk helped the hosts to pick up the pace and take a double-digit lead after 3 long-range shots and a 15:5 run – 27:14. Fotis Takianos timeouts could not bring the Kazakh team back to thegame. At the start of the second quarter, Kendall Smith 8 points in a row brought the difference to 20 points. Nizhny Novgorod continued to find open shots and made 11 of 19 three-pointers in the first half, which allowed to get a comfortable lead by the halftime – 58:32.
In the second half, the Kazakh team started to play full court press, allowing Nizhny Novgorod to score only 4 points in 5 minutes. Astana also scored 26 points in the quarter and cut the lead to 16 points by the final quarter.
But the guests still couldn’t put the game back on track. Smith and Aleksandr Chadov helped the Volga team keep the lead and take the third straight win.
X-factor
Nizhny won the first half with a 26-point difference and managed to hold the lead until the end. The Volga team shooting played an important role – the hosts made 11 three-pointers with 58%.
Fact
Nizhny Novgorod scored 58 points in the first half, setting a new team season-high in points scored in the first half. Prior to that, the best first half for the team was in the opening game of the season against MINSK. Zoran Lukic team scored 51 points in 20 minutes.
Leaders
Pari Nizhny Novgorod: Kendall Smith (21 + 6 assists), Aleksandr Gankevich (14 + 5 rebounds), Evgenii Baburin (11), Aleksandr Chadov (10 + 7 rebounds).
Astana: Royce Hamm (13), Carvel Anderson (13).
What’s next
Pari Nizhny Novgorod (10-21): March 10 on the road against Avtodor
Astana (11-19): March 13 on the road versus Samara.
