Astana defeated VEF Riga at home, 66-64 (19-18, 14-19, 14-11, 19-16).
Top Scorers
Astana: Rod Odom (22 + 10 rebounds), Rob Lowery (11 + 6 rebounds + 5 assists), Leonidas Kaselakis (11), Ousman Krubally (10 + 12 rebounds)
VEF: Janis Blums (13), Martins Meiers (10), Kristopher Richard (10)
Turning Point
VEF went on a 10-2 run to open the 4th quarter, securing its biggest lead of the game, 58-49.
Astana didn’t panic. Ilias Papatheodorou’s men slowly, but surely chipped away at the deficit, holding VEF scoreless for over four minutes to tie things up at 58-58.
Nemanja Bezbradica put the visitors back on top with a ‘3’, 3:19 remaining in the game, but that would be it for VEF. Riga went ice-cold, missing its next five attempts, while giving up an 8-0 run that put Astana on top by five, 66-61.
Kristopher Richard hit a half-court shot at the buzzer, but it was too little, too late. Astana wins, 66-64, improving to 2-2 on the season. VEF drops to 1-1.
Stat
50-40 – neither team shot the ball particularly well, creating plenty of opportunities on the glass. Astana took advantage, outrebounding VEF by 10, including a 17-10 edge on offensive rebounds.
Quotes
Astana head coach Ilias Papatheodorou:
– This was a very tough game. VEF is an experienced team with a specific style. Riga has good team chemistry. In the first half, we had some trouble on defense. We didn’t have the needed interaction. The visitors were also prepared for our attacks. At halftime, we talked about our play and decided we needed to be more aggressive on defense. In the second half, we were able to do that, which is why we won.
VEF head coach Janis Gailitis:
– We didn’t execute the game plan. We lost on the glass and several players were very passive today. We needed to win, but we weren’t able to play consistently.
Up Next
Astana: October 31 at Kalev
VEF: October 30 at Zenit
Snapshot
