«Astana» to win a series of games in Atyrau

«Astana» has completed a series of away games against «Barsy Atyrau» of the regular Kazakhstan Basketball Championship among men's teams of the National League.

For two days in the city of Atyrau, there was a battle between two principal rivals. All two matches turned out hard for Astana team. The team from Atyrau is one of the strongest teams in Kazakhstan, «Barsy» goes full force more than ever in the games with «Astana» and plays aggressively as never before.

The first game ended with a score of 84:86 in favor of the guests. The second game also was very intense, especially the last ten minutes, which were very emotional. Thanks to the great skills of the capital basketball players, the victory in the match and in the series in general, was gained by «Astana.» The match ended with a score of 66:72 in favor of «Astana.»

Match statistics: Anatoliy Kolesnikov — 17 points, Anthony Clemmons — 15 points, Ike Udano — 13 points, Rustam Ergali — 9 points.

Acting head coach of the BC «Astana» Mikhail Karpenko commented on the past series of games:
 - The series of games was quite difficult for us. Of course, as it was very important for the final rating in the National Championship. We realized it as well as our rival. The games were played by a similar scenario, we seized the first half of the match, controlled the game, and in the second half the opponent caught up with us in the score and they almost succeeded, both in the first and in the second game. Perhaps those matches with «Caspian» and «Kapshagay», when we easily won were like double-edged sworn for us, we were too self-assured in coming games. The second moment, none of the rivals played zone defense against us this season for a long time, this factor also affected the course of the game. Nevertheless, the team did a good job, we coped, first of all, with the challenge of the tournament, we will analyze and correct the mistakes. Now we will begin preparations for the next VTB League match against St. Petersburg's «Zenit», which will take place this weekend.

As a result of the series of matches, the capital club played 10 games in the Championship of Kazakhstan and has 10 wins. Thus, «Astana» takes 1 line in the standings of the National League.

«Astana» will hold its next home game on 11 February. Our basketball players will host «Zenit», St. Petersburg in the frame of VTB League.