Avtodor defeated Astana in Saratov – 92:83 (28:21, 24:18, 18:11, 22:33).
Game progress
The hosts looked confident at the start of the game with a 15:6 run. Astana offense was built around Markell Johnson and Karvel Anderson, who combined 33 points. The Saratov team used teamplay. For a long time, the guests star duo made enough to keep the Volga team within several points. But toward the end of the second half, Milenko Bogicevic team was still able to get away and had a 13-point lead by the halftime – 52:39.
At the beginning of the second half, Hammonds was injured and had to leave for a while. The temporary absence of the leader didn’t affect the Saratov team game and the lead became 22 points – 66:44. The guests started to have problems. The Volga team was able to stop Anderson and Johnson, forcing the Kazakh team to make difficult shots at the end of possessions.
Astana managed to score only 11 points in the third quarter, and an attempted comeback in the final quarter failed. Avtodor got a confident win.
X-factor
The Saratov team demonstrated a high level of teamplay with 21 assists. The performance of rotation was also an important factor. The Volga team bench brought the team 27 points against only 7 for Astana rotation players.
Fact
Karvel Anderson made 5 long-range shots and was able to break the three-pointers made in a single season record, set by Alexey Shved in the 2016/17 season (103 three-pointers). After the game with Avtodor, Astana guard has 107 long-range shots and at least 4 more games to increase it.
Markell Johnson scored career-high 39 points. Also, this result is the second season-high in the VTB United League. Only Xavier Rathan-Mayes scored more than Markell (42 points against PARMA in November). Astana guard also got the second all-time high in efficiency (57). Only Stevan Jelovac (64) had more.
Leaders
Avtodor: Rayshawn Hammonds (21 + 9 rebounds), Dusan Beslac (19), Dominic Mavra (16 + 6 assists), Malik Newman (13 + 5 assists).
Astana: Markell Johnson (39 + 11 assists + 7 rebounds), Karvel Anderson (30).
What’s next
Avtodor (17-19): April 3 on the road against MINSK
Astana (12-24): April 4 at home versus Runa.
