Astana snapped a five-game losing streak, defeating Tsmoki-Minsk on the road, 80-70 (23-15, 21-19, 13-14, 23-22).
Top Scorers
Tsmoki-Minsk: Antonio Graves (18), Djordje Gagic (17+9 reb), Dru Joyce (7+5 reb+8 ast)
Astana: Ousman Krubally (23+10 reb), Ian Miller (16+5 ast), Leonidas Kaselakis (16)
Turning Point
Astana’s defense and big contributions from Ousman Krubally and Ian Miller gave the visitors a 10-point lead in the first half (44-34).
Tsmoki didn’t threaten until early in the 4th quarter, holding Astana to two points over the first 3:30. The lead down to five points, Astana’s foreign legion put the game away in Minsk. Leonidas Kaselakis ignited the visitors with a basket in the paint. Soon after, Dimitrios Katsivelis set up Ousman Krubally with a sweet dish. Within minutes, Astana had pushed the lead back to 11 points, 70-59 and had little trouble holding on for victory. With the win, Astana snaps a five-game skid.
Stat
35 – combined scoring from Antonio Graves (18) and Djordje Gagic (17). Graves and Gagic were Tsmoki’s only options on offense; Aliaksei Trastsinetski was 3rd in scoring with eight points.
Quotes
Tsmoki-Minsk head coach Igor Grishchuk:
– Astana is very good on defense. We slept through the first 10 minutes, which I think is the main reason for the loss.
Astana head coach Ilias Papatheodorou:
– This was a very tough game because Tsmoki is a strong team. We wanted to be aggressive and I think we did that: we controlled the game from the start to the end.
Up Next
Tsmoki-Minsk: February 27 vs. VEF
Astana: February 25 at Avtodor
