Kazakhstan "Astana" at home took over the Latvian VEF - 90:77 (25:20, 24:16, 15:24, 26:17).
Two long-distance hits by JJ O'Brien allowed Astana to seize the initiative in the first minutes. The home team looked pretty confident in the attack: another long-range shot from O'Brien, a pair of successful attacks by Stephen Holt and domination on the shields (8 points of “second chance”) allowed yellow-blue to score 10 points - 23:13.
Residents managed to return to the game due to the courage of Andrew Andrews and the active use of the "big ones". But “Astana” had its own answer to this. At a difficult moment, Michael Jenkins took over the leadership role. The defender in the second quarter scored 13 points and returned to the owners a comfortable difference in the score - 49:36.
The third quarter began with a VEF jerk - 6-0, which was organized by Steve Zack and Jabril Durem. The guests felt confident and seized the initiative. Throughout the 10-minute period, they gradually reduced their backlog, and at some point they approached the opponent at a distance of one throw - 60:62.
But already at the start of the final quarter, the hosts managed to deliver a decisive blow. Horton, Holt and Zhigulin organized a spurt - 7: 0, and the leadership of Astana became double-digit again - 71:60. The residents of Riga tried to organize a comeback through the efforts of Steve Zack, but they did not succeed. Yellow-blue confidently controlled the pace of the match, did not give the opponent free attacks, and due to the individual skill of their leaders, they increased the lead even more. The last minutes of the match were dictated by the hosts, which allowed them to interrupt a series of three defeats.
The most productive:
Astana: Steven Holt (22 + 6 rebounds + 3 interceptions), Michael Jenkins (21 + 6 assists), JJ O'Brien (14 + 6 assists), Jeffrey Groscell (14).
WEF: Steve Zack (21 + 14 rebounds), Andrew Andrews (17), Mareks Meyeris (13), Arthurs Ausays (11 + 5 assists).
Hero - This season, Stephen Holt often remained in the shadow of Anthony Clemmons. But in this meeting, the absence of a leader allowed his replacement to show all his talents. As a result, the home side defender became the best in the match by scored points (22), effectiveness (29) and interceptions (3). Also in the asset of an American - 6 rebounds and 3 assists.
The number is 8 - the number of victories of "Astana" this season. For the entire past championship team won 7 victories.
Astana head coach Emil Raykovich:
- It was a very important victory for us. In the previous match against UNICS, we lost in the very ending - not quite enough. Today we played without our leader Clemmons, so the victory is doubly important, I congratulate everyone on it.
VEF head coach Janis Gailitis:
- Today we started the match very badly. Of course, we analyzed “Astana” and knew how they play, but we didn’t have enough rigidity and concentration. Today we looked very tired, and the attack lacked ideas and diversity.
The team will play the next match on the road, on February 2, the capital basketball players will meet with the Saratov basketball club Avtodor in the regular season of the VTB United League.

Source: http://pbcastana.kz