CSKA Moscow defeated Astana on the road, 92-76 (24-21, 18-11, 33-21, 17-23).
Top Scorers
Astana: Ousman Krubally (19 points + 12 rebounds), Maxim Marchuk (13 points), Rod Odom (10 points), Ian Miller (8 points + 7 assists)
CSKA: Nikita Kurbanov (26 points), Nando De Colo (18 points + 8 assists), James Augustine (12 points + 5 rebounds), Dmitry Kulagin (10 points)
Turning Point
Early in the 2nd quarter, Rob Lowery scored on a layup to cut Astana’s deficit to one, 24-23. CSKA responded with a 12-0 run, bookended by three’s from Dmitry Kulagin and Aaron Jackson.
Astana only trailed by 10 at halftime, but never really threatened again. A dominant 3rd quarter helped the Army Men secure the win and improve to 2-0.
Stat
100% – CSKA forward Nikita Kurbanov was a perfect 8-8 from the field (including 4-4 from beyond the arc) and 6-6 from the line to score a game-high 26 points.
Led by the Russian big man, CSKA shot lights out: 62% from inside the arc, 55% from downtown, and 94% at the line.
Quotes
Astana head coach Ilias Papatheodorou:
– It’s a big honor for us to play against a team like CSKA. They have terrific players, one of the best coaches in Europe, and great chemistry, no question. We knew that it would be a tough game, but we tried to push the tempo from the start and be aggressive on offense. We had some success, but CSKA started to use some different looks on defense that we weren’t ready for. I’m happy with my players. They played good basketball. Maxim Marchuk’s performance was a real surprise for me. He looked great on the court. We really need help from the Kazakh players.
CSKA head coach Dimitris Itoudis:
– Congratulations to my team on the win. You need to remember that we have been on the road a lot in recent days. We just returned from China, flew to Krasnoyarsk, then to Astana. Plus, we were playing without four important players, including a pair of guards. Naturally, as a result, there were some good and bad moments. But both of our opening games in the VTB League have been helpful. We’ve seen a lot and now we’ll prepare for the start of the Euroleague. As I noted before the game, Astana has put together a completely new, good, young team. I want to congratulate the coaches, club management, Valery Tikhonenko. It’s good that there is a team like this in the VTB League.
Up Next
Astana: October 22 vs. VEF
CSKA: October 30 at Avtodor
Snapshot
