Astana Kazakhstan defeated Parma Russia on the road in overtime, 90-84 (22-13, 22-19, 16-27, 18-19, 12-6).
Top Scorers
Parma: Frank Gaines (25), Codi Miller-McIntyre (14 + 8 ast), Tre’ McLean (13 + 9 reb), Yanick Moreira (12 + 12 reb)
Astana: Justin Carter (26 + 5 ast), Larry Gordon (22 + 5 reb), Ike Udanoh (16 + 13 reb), Hordur Vilhjalmsson (10)
Story
Parma was seeking its first-ever VTB United League win at the Molot Arena. Astana was hoping to pick up its first win of the season. In the end, 40 minutes would not be enough.
Parma mounted a furious comeback in the final four minutes of regulation, erasing a 10-point deficit to force the extra period. But the visitors quickly recovered from the shock. Trailing 84-81 with 2:20 to go, Astana rattled off a 9-0 run to win the game, with all nine points coming at the free-throw line.
Early on, it looked like Astana might run away with the game. Larry Gordon, who finished with 22, put up eight points in the 1st quarter, helping the visitors to a 22-13 lead. Justin Carter got going in the 2nd quarter to push the lead to 12 by halftime, scoring 10 of his 26 points in the period.
The momentum flipped in the 3rd quarter. Parma’s Frank Gaines drilled a pair of 3-pointers to cut the deficit to six early in the period and Codi Miller-McIntyre knocked down another to end the quarter, pulling the home team within a point, 60-59.
After going down big late in the 4th, Gaines once again brought Parma back. He was responsible for eight of 10 points in the final minutes. He even had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but with no timeouts available, the home team’s final possession was rushed and his shot from halfcourt missed the mark.
In the overtime, both teams struggled to score from the field. Parma’s Yanick Moreira and Astana’s Larry Gordon scored the only field goals as 14 of 18 combined points came from the free-throw line. Ultimately, Astana was a little sharper, forcing the ball inside and drawing fouls, while the home team missed outside shots and gave up some huge offensive rebounds.
Astana escapes with a 90-84 win to improve to 1-4, while Parma drops to 1-4, in search of that elusive first home win in League play.
Highlights
. @parmabasket vs. @PBCAstana one minute highlights 📹 pic.twitter.com/IdKUK8Cndl
— VTB United League (@VTBUL) November 5, 2017
Stat
46 – number of free throws attempted by Astana, a new season record and tied for 3rd all-time in the League. The Kazakh club was not very accurate, however, connecting on only 65% of its attempts (30-46).
Quotes
Parma head coach Nikolajs Mazurs:
– I’ll be concise: We came up a little short in every aspect of the game. Taken together, that was the difference in 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 rhythm, but the guys battled 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 win 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 encouraging to see. As for the game, there are a lot of areas in which we need to improve, for example, our free throws. If we want to win these types of close games more often, we need to shoot above 70% from the line. But I’m happy that we won. Congratulations to my team!
Up Next
Parma: November 12 away vs. CSKA
Astana: November 12 away vs. Kalev
Snapshot
