PARMA Russia defeated Astana Kazakhstan on the road, 84-78 (19-20, 19-18, 26-14, 20-26).
Top Scorers
Astana: Justin Carter (23 + 8 reb + 5 ast), Ike Udanoh (21 + 10 reb), Anthony Clemmons (17)
PARMA: Frank Gaines (21 + 5 reb), Ivan Ukhov (13), Andrejs Grazulis (11), Tre’ McLean (11)
Story
Frank Gaines scored 21 points to lead PARMA to victory in the Kazakh capital, 84-78. The visitors took control midway through the 3rd quarter with a 9-0 run, keyed by back-to-back 3-pointers from Gaines.
PARMA led by as much as 17 early in the 4th quarter, though Astana was able to cut the deficit to four, 81-77, in the final minute.
After the visitors turned the ball over on the next possession, Justin Carter and Ike Udanoh both had chances to make it a one-point game, but couldn’t connect from beyond the arc. Yannick Moreira finally grabbed the rebound for PARMA, his season-best 17th of the game.
The visitors closed out the game at the line, snapping a two-game losing streak and improving to 6-11. Astana falls to 6-12 and misses a chance to take sole possession of 7th place. Only one game separates 7th from 12th place, with PARMA and Tsmoki-Minsk now leading the pack at 6-11.
Despite shooting 36% from the field, Astana hung around by getting to the line, attempting 33 free throws compared to 13 for PARMA. The three-point shooting simply wasn’t there, however, including the two big misses from Carter and Udanoh that sealed the home team’s fate.
Despite only scoring four points on 2-9 shooting, PARMA guard Codi Miller-McIntyre dished out a game-high 10 assists to go with five rebounds and three steals.
Stat
46-34 – PARMA was +12 on the glass, limiting the home team to only seven offensive rebounds.
Quotes
Astana head coach Mikhail Karpenko:
– Unfortunately, we didn’t manage on defense today. We’d planned to be very aggressive. Perhaps we were able to slow down the visitors’ star, McIntyre, but we were mostly soft and a step behind on defense. We only used four team fouls in the first half. We let our opponent get comfortable and knock down shots, including early in possessions. That continued in the second half. Unfortunately, we also made the wrong decisions on offense and couldn’t grab several important rebounds. Overall, we lost the battle on the glass. All of this led to a loss at home. The battle for the playoffs continues. I hope we draw the right conclusions and continue moving forward.
PARMA head coach Nikolajs Mazurs:
– We started with great energy. We weren’t able to convert fast-break opportunities, but we did a good job on the glass. The guys were very patient and created a lot of good shots with ball movement. At the end, I think we were quicker and better at the little things. Congrats to the fans in Perm. This is an important win for us.
Up Next
Astana: April 1 away vs. Lokomotiv-Kuban
PARMA: April 1 home vs. Enisey
Images of the Game
