The match was held on the road in the city of Perm. From the first seconds, both teams rushed in the attack. These were the hosts who opened the score. Guests from Kazakhstan did not take long to wait and responded too, with two-pointers and a free throw, 2-3 in favour of Astana. Parma immediately began to attack the glass from behind the arc, and quite successfully. But for every attack «Astana” stroke back in kind, Larry Gordon had two successful 3-point shots. The first period was not the time for a warm-up for the teams, on the contrary, they gave it their all from the very start of the game. The period ended with a score of 13-22 in favour of Astana. In the second period, the teams played at the same pace. Parma could not get closer than 5 points. It is worth noting that «Astana» showed a good percentage of both mid-range and long-range shots. Astana could demonstrate a team game and as a result finished the first half with a solid advantage of 44-32.
The third period was crucial, well-coordinated team actions and support tribunes of »Parma» made it tough for “Astana” to go through, nevertheless, Astana led in the period, but the Parma had the last word, having the advantage in the third period (27-16). The final quarter was dramatic, no one wanted to give up, and gradually the game moved into overtime (78-78).
As expected, the outcome of the game was decided in the first overtime. Teams were already pretty tired and made mistakes. Five minutes of extra time seemed like an eternity, but nevertheless, this short time span showed who was stronger in the battle. Both teams wanted this victory so badly. But luck and a great desire finally helped Astana to grab it. The game ended with a score of 84-90 in favour of the Kazakhstan team. Congratulations to the coaching staff and the players on a successful game.
The most effective:
- «Parma»: Frank Gaines (25), Codi Miller-McIntyre(14 + 8 assists), Tre’ McLean (13 + 9 rebounds), Yanik Moreira (12 + 12 rebounds)
- «Astana»: Justin Carter (26 + 5 assists), Larry Gordon (22 + 5 rebounds), Ike Udano (16 + 13 rebounds + 3 steals), Hondur Vilhalmsson (10)
«Parma» head coach Nikolajs Mazurs:
– I’ll be concise: We came up a little short in every aspect of the game. Summed up together, it decided the game. At the very beginning, some of the players did not feel very confident, which led to several big mistakes. That set us back and affected our pace, but the guys struggled to the end, to the final moment. A big thank you to the fans for the incredible support and excellent atmosphere at the game.
«Astana» head coach Kostas Flevarakis:
– This was a terrific, exciting game. There was a lot of pressure on both teams. Prior to this, we played well against Khimki. We felt like we deserved a victory in that game, but luck was not on our side. We understood we needed to start winning here. We’re starting to develop some team chemistry, which is exciting to see. As for the game, there are a lot of aspects we need to improve, for example, our free throws. If we want to win these types of neck-to-neck games more often, we need to shoot above 70% from the line. But I’m happy that we won. Congratulations to my team!
«Astana» will hold the next match in the next weekend, on November 12 in Estonia, where it will meet with the local «Kalev».
