VEF Riga, Latvia vs. «Astana» Astana, Kazakhstan

VEF held off Astana at home on Saturday night, 94-93. Trailing by 21 at halftime, the visitors stormed back and even led briefly in the 4th quarter. Missed opportunities, however, down the stretch doomed Astana to defeat on the road.

Intro
Each team had only one win entering the contest. Astana also had to play without leader Nik Caner-Medley, not to mention star point guard Jerry Johnson, who's been out for several weeks. VEF, meanwhile, had the home-court advantage and hoped to notch its first win in Riga this season.

Riga employed a balanced attack on offense, while Astana relied primarily on Pat Calathes and Kenny Hayes. The visitors kept the score close most of the opening period before a 10-0 run to cap the 1st quarter put VEF on top, 32-19. Martins Meiers led the way for the home team, scoring eight points in the period.

Riga continued to control the tempo in the 2nd quarter. Fast breaks, 3-pointers and paint offense keyed a dominant first half (VEF shot 24-32 from the field) and a huge lead at the break, 62-41.

Improved defense helped Astana turn the tide in the 3rd quarter. After rolling up 62 points in the first half, VEF was held to 15 in the first 12:48 of the second half. Kazakh natives Anatoly Kolesnikov, Pavel Ilyin and Rustam Yargaliev balanced out the offense for Astana, giving the visitors a 79-77 advantage with 7:12 left to play.

Turning Point
After a back-and-forth 4th quarter, VEF center Guillermo Rubio hit two free throws with eight seconds remaining to put Riga on top by two, 92-90. During the subsequent timeout, Astana coach Ramunas Butautas drew up a play to get Yargaliev open, but the guard stepped out-of-bounds, giving the ball back to VEF. Another two free throws from Rubio sealed the home team's win, just its second of the season.

Star of the Game
Guillermo Rubio. The Spanish center scored VEF's final eight points, including four clutch free throws that decided the outcome.

Stat of the Game
23 - Astana trailed by as much as 23 early in the 3rd quarter. An incredible 33-8 run erased the deficit, but the visitors ran out of steam in the final minutes, suffering a tough defeat on the road.

Quotes
VEF head coach Carlos Frade:
- I'm very happy about this win. I told the guys in the locker room that we worked really hard and it's born fruit. We should be proud of how we played in the first half. After halftime, we let our opponent score a lot of easy baskets and they caught up. But we were strong enough today and confident enough to finish off the win.

Astana head coach Ramunas Butautas:
- Congratulations to VEF on the win. It was really nice for me to return to Riga. They have a very young, aggressive team here. During the first half, our opponent played excellent defense and shot a very high percentage. We had enough reserves to come back, but we weren't fresh enough in the final minutes.

Stats

Snapshot