Avtodor beat Astana at home – 90:85 (20:19, 27:13, 15:23, 28:20)
Top Scorers
Avtodor: Mouhammadou Jaiteh (22 + 13 rebounds), Markel Starks (20 + 8 assists), Isaiah Hicks (18 + 9 rebounds).
Astana: Coty Clarke (28 + 7 rebounds), Malcolm Hill (22 + 6 rebounds + 6 assists), Dusan Ristic (15 + 8 rebounds + 6 assists).
Story
Avtodor (1-4) took the first win of the season in previous game against Kalev. Astana (3-2) shocked everybody few times this season and before the game were holding third place. Nur-Sultan controlled the game almost all first half long, moreover the brightest player was Saratov ex-player Coty Clarke (13 points). The hosts answered with their bigs led by Mouhammadou Jaiteh (16) outpacing their rivals twice in points from the paint (28:14). Then Elgin Cook and Orlando Johnson supported him, which let Avtodor end second quarter with 20:8 run – 47:42.
In the third Astana showed good defense, not letting Jaiteh score a single point and team score over 15. Kazakhstan’s offense was stable: Malcolm Hill and Coty Clarke let the guests take the lead before the final quarter (65:62).
In the fourth Avtodor increased the pace of the game and Astana took the challenge. Fun game resulted in a clutch with equal chances to win – 76:74 after Jaiteh’s make.
Key moment
On the last minutes teams became more careful and stopped playing with “7 seconds shot clock” rule. Moreover, incredible Markel Starks scored 12 points in a row, scoring in drives to the basket and from downtown. Astana answered with Clarke and Hill’s shots but Avtodor started to increase the lead – 81:76, 85:79 and 88:82 one minute before the buzzer. A few misses and a turnover by Saratov gave the guests the hope (85:88) but Starks ended a drought with free throws – 90:85. Avtodor win second game in a row after 0-4 on the season start.
Stat
33 – efficiency points of Mouhammadou Jaiteh. It is fifth best result this season
Hero
Markel Starks. In the ending the guard scored 14 points in a row! Nobody on Avtodor’s roster couldn’t score in clutch besides him. He got 20 points, 8 assists and 8 of 12 FG.
Comments
Avtodor’s head coach Evgeny Pashutin:
– Astana is a serious opponent that is capable of keeping the pace and controlling the game, and they proved it in games against Loko and Zenit. We prepared well, were good at defense against Jeremiah Hill. We didn’t managed to hold Clarke but decided that it’s better to let him play one-on-one than let all 5 Astana’s snipers shoot from different positions. Defense made sense. Guys were hustling, didn’t allow them to score easy points.
Astana’s head coach Emil Raikovikj:
– I guess the game was interesting for fans. We had chances to end this game with W but at some points we showed bad defense on pick’n’roles. We were facing a problem, connected with our leaders tiredness, because they spent 35-36 minutes on the court. As a result, we didn’t manage to push for the win. From my point of view, this is the main cause of our loss. We had only 4 foreign players tonight, because Whitehead is injured.
Next
Avtodor: 24 November on the road against PARMA
Astana: 25 November on the road against Kalev
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