Zielona Gora defeated Astana at home – 91:83 (26:18, 22:20, 23:23, 20:22).
The best scorers
Zielona Gora: Nemanja Nenadic (19 + 5 rebounds + 5 assists), Jaroslaw Zyskowski (15 + 6 rebounds), David Brembly (14 + 6 rebounds), Dragan Apic (12 + 7 rebounds), Devo Joseph (11).
Astana: Anthony Hickey (33 + 10 assists), Skylar Spencer (12), Antonio Campbell (11).
Game progress
Zielona Gora and Astana came the final game of January having the longest losses series at the moment: the Polish team lost the last 6 games, the Nur Sultan team – 5 games.
At the start of the game was dictated by Jaroslaw Zyskowski, Dragan Apic and David Brembly: the Polish trio dominated in the offense and had established a double-digit lead at the middle of the quarter – 16:5.
😱 @SkyRodrigo throws it down 🔨 pic.twitter.com/OePOEvtZ9K
— VTB League (@VTBUL) January 31, 2022
Astana tried to reduce the gap with Anthony Hickey and Oleg Balashov efforts, but team fouls prevent the guests to do it. Gora regularly scored free-throws, which allowed them to score 14 points from the line and keep a good start until the end of the 1nd quarter – 26:18.
In the 2nd quarter, Zielona Gora continued to competently destroy the Kazakh team offense. The guests managed to keep the difference in the score only with rare 3-pointers by Mark Tikhonenko and Antonio Campbell. The hosts responded with 3-pointers by Joseph and Brembly. The smooth flow of the game was disrupted by the last 2 minutes before the halftime: the teams suddenly increased the pace. But the Polish team was lucky there too. Andy Mazurczak made a beautiful floater and set the final score of the 1st half – 48:38.
At the start of the 3rd quarter, Anthony Hickey made another comeback attempt. The American guard scored 5 points in 2 possessions and reduced the gap to 8 points. But bad defense allowed the hosts to score some easy points in the paint, which marked the beginning of the the hosts’ boost . And another 3-pointer by Jaroslaw Zyskowski created a 20 points lead. It seemed that Gora could only hold the lead and bring it to win easily, but 11:2 run at the end of the quarter brought Astana back into the game – 71:61 Zielona Gora lead before the final regulation quarter.
Nemanja Nenadic No-Look Behind-The-Back Assist 😍 pic.twitter.com/8q1VzlFFHc
— VTB League (@VTBUL) January 31, 2022
Astana did not slow down: 2 long-range shots from Campbell and Hickey reduced the difference to 6 points.
The key moment
But Darko Russo’s players were not enough for more. The hosts played more aggressively in defense, forcing the opponent to make difficult shots. The 2-minute drought of the guests in the offense became fatal – they simply did not have time for a decisive run. Zielona Gora wins for the 2nd time this season and breaks a 6-games losses streak – 91:83.
Hero
Nemanja Nenadic became the key player in the Polish team. The Serbian guard scored 19 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, as well as 20 eff. points.
Numbers
17 seconds – Astana guard Anthony Hickey rested today. The American played the game almost without substitutions and set a personal best in points (33 points), which nevertheless, did not help the Kazakh team to win the game.
Comments
Oliver Vidin, Zielona Gora Head Coach:
– Very important game for us. Our goal is to play in the play-off. One win more to position 8. We were up by 20 points, but we lost focus in couple of minutes and they had 6-8 points difference, but we controlled the game until the end. We have a game every two-three days and we need to evolve everyone in the roster.
Darko Russo, Astana Head Coach:
– First of all I want to congratulate to Zielona Góra and Coach Vidin. They played good defence and they played tough. We didn’t respond well. We started the game a little bit soft, I can say. After this start it was 9 point lead to them, and we tried to catch them. Last game we played 19th December, since then we were only practicing, also we lost best scoring player.
What’s next
Zielona Gora: home game against Zenit on February 14.
Astana: on the road versus CSKA on February 13
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