After the resumption of the championship of the VTB United League, it turned out that the Kazakh Astana, like others, suffered from personnel problems after the mass relocate of foreign basketball players. We haven't seen their yesterday's American leaders Skylar Spencer, Anthony Hickey and Antonio Campbell in Minsk. So the match of equal competitors, as evidenced by the statistics of previous meetings (each won eight times), resulted in a sharp confrontation. The scales could tilt to one side or the other. But the winning arguments of "Tsmoki-Minsk" turned out to be more convincing - 66:60 (22:17, 14:7, 17:24, 13:12).
Starting fives
Tsmoki: Uladzislau Blizniuk, Daniil Barysevich, Alialsei Trastinetski, Yauheni Beliankou, Darol Zinenko
Astana: Rustam Murzagaliyev, Nikolay Bazhin, Rustam Aitkali, Robert Pan, Maxim Marchuk
Game Scenario
The rivals started the meeting with a diametrically opposite way of points scoring. If Astana relied on long-range shots, then Tsmoki-Minsk preferred to attack more often from the "paint". Fortunately, Minsk residents had good breakthroughs under the shield, especially Yauheni Beliankou, who methodically put his opponents on fouls. In the middle of the quarter , the hosts , thanks to a series of effective combinations , broke away on "+6" (20:14). It's a pity, Daniil Kosko made a three-point shot a moment after the siren, and the referees did not count it. Nevertheless, a quarter remained for Minsk residents — 22:17.
In the next ten minutes, the sniper duel between Yauheni Beliankou and Rustam Murzagaliev escalated. A couple of successful shots by the Belarusian allowed our team to escape by 10 points - 27:17. However, the captain of Astana by three point shot (already the 3rd one) and the subsequent breakthrough under the rim tried not to let the hosts build up the advantage. It didn't work. The Dragons still successfully operated in the drives to the rim, effectively used their own advantage in anthropometry. During the first half, our team collected 22 rebounds - against 15 from the guests, and they did it 5 times under the enemy shield - Astana got only one rebound in our "paint". It should be noted that Tsmoki-Minsk worked hard in defense. This led to a significant increase in the rivals’ number of turnovers and the subsequent set of scoring of important points by Belarusians after them (16 against 3). The dense, impenetrable defense of the "dragons" became a stumbling block for the Nur-Sultans — during the second period they were able to add only seven points to the team's bank, while they themselves conceded twice as many.
After a long break, Tsmoki-Minsk, with the hot hands of Yauheni Beliankou and Andrei Stabrouski, brought their own gap to the maximum - 43:28. It is difficult to determine what happened to the team after that. The defense began to limp, in turn, the Kazakhstanis pressed against the wall went all-in. And the situation on the site has changed dramatically — Astana made a jerk 18:4. Rustam Murzagaliyev dragged the team, Nikolai Bazhin suddenly scattered, a bust of fouls worked against the hosts, giving the opponent easy points from the line.
It became very alarming when Robert Pan almost returned parity with an «and one» - 47:46. Fortunately, Daniil Borisovich's confident solo drive to the basket and Andrei Stabrovsky's long-range shot crazy with the siren again spread the clubs to a five-point distance.
Interchange
The first half of the final period Astana performed well in defense — Tsmoki-Minsk scored only 4 points. This circumstance exacerbated the intrigue, and at 3.30 the irrepressible Rustam Murzagaliyev inflames it to the limit - 59:57. But the Belarusians had enough composure and concentration to spend the most important minutes in a collected and effective manner. Uladzislau Blizniuk implemented the floater, and after an intentional foul, he released one shot. The guests tried to save the match with the help of three-pointers, but Mark Tikhonenko was let down by his sight.
Prominent roles
Andrei Stabrouski and Yauheni Beliankou became the leading snipers of Tsmoki-Minsk. They scored 33 points for a couple — exactly half of the team points.
Scoring leaders
Tsmoki-Minsk: Andrei Stabrouski - 17 + 1 REB + 1 AST + 1 STL + 1 BLK, Yauheni Beliankou - 16 + 3 REB + 1 AST + 2 STL, Daniil Barisevych - 9 + 4 REB + 4 AST + 1 STL.
Astana: Rustam Murzagaliyev 17 + 5 REB + 5 AST, Mark Tikhonenko 10 + 6 REB + 2 AST.
Rostislav Vergun - Tsmoki-Minsk Head Coach:
I congratulate everyone who is rooting for us, who is involved in this victory. It is probably especially expensive, as it is the first victory at the club level in international competitions with a roster of only Belarusian players. Even if in this situation it turned out a little artificially, all the same, what we have been moving towards for many years, today we have seen. Our character, team play - I think these were the main factors that helped us. Of course, the guys deserved to win, and I want to congratulate them with it. As for the basketball component, we made too many unforced turnovers. Low percentage of hits from behind the arc - we must improve this component. We have to find our way to 75 points. With such defense, we will have a chance to fight for a positive result in every game.
Next game
It's funny that the next match of the VTB United League Tsmoki-Minsk will play with Astana again. But now on the road. The game will take place on March 17 in Nur-sultan, on the «Saryarka» bike track, and will start at 16.30 Belarusian time.