CSKA defeated Astana on the road, 91-73, in Game 3 of the quarterfinals (19-15, 25-10, 20-25, 27-23).
Top Scorers
Astana: Rob Lowery (20+6 reb+5 ast), Ousman Krubally (15+9 reb), Rod Odom (11+8 reb)
CSKA: Nando De Colo (18+8 ast), Vitaly Fridzon (14), Joel Freeland (13), Dmitry Kulagin (12)
Recap
CSKA need a little time to get loose in the Kazakh capital, leading by only four at the end of the 1st quarter. But a 10-0 run to open the 2nd quarter, sparked by nine points from the Kulagin brothers, put the visitors in the driver’s seat.
Trailing by 19 at halftime, Astana fought back to within 10 early in the 4th quarter, but CSKA had little trouble closing out a win, outscoring the home team 23-13 down the stretch.
Nando De Colo led the visitors with 18 points and eight assists, giving CSKA a 3-0 series sweep to set up a semifinal showdown with either Lokomotiv-Kuban or UNICS.
Astana bows out of the playoffs, ending an impressive campaign by first-year coach Ilias Papatheodorou and point guard Rob Lowery, who scored 20 points to go with six rebounds and five assists in the defeat.
Video
Astana vs CSKA Game 3 one minute highlights 📽 pic.twitter.com/WqGidy3DFp
— VTB United League (@VTBUL) May 10, 2017
Stat
54-11 – CSKA’s bench dominated, outscoring Astana’s reserves by 43.
Quotes
Astana head coach Ilias Papatheodorou:
– We tried to play our best basketball against CSKA in these three games. As you know, these teams are at different levels. That said, our players tried to push back as much as possible in all three games and I think we managed to do so. Thank you to the team for the season. We accomplished all of our goals.
CSKA head coach Dimitris Itoudis:
– Congratulations to the team on a 3-0 win in the series. We came here with injuries and I hope Dima Kulagin’s injury won’t be too serious. Congratulations to Astana on a good season and I wish them luck in the future.
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