«Astana» Astana, Kazakhstan vs. «Krasny Oktyabr» Volgograd, Russia

Astana defeated Krasny Oktyabr at home on Sunday afternoon, 81-74. Despite parting ways with its foreign contingent earlier in the week, Volgograd kept the score close until midway through the 4th quarter, when Nik Caner-Medley and Kenneth Hayes managed to lead Astana to victory.

Intro
Both teams came out firing, but Astana enjoyed the upper hand in the opening period. Nik Caner-Medley scored 11, giving the home team a 28-16 lead after 10 minutes.

Krasny Oktyabr refused to quit. Suffocating defense limited the Kazakhs to a measly six points in the 2nd quarter, allowing the visitors to pull ahead at halftime, 35-34.

The second half was very competitive for the first 15 minutes. Caner-Medley and Kenneth Hayes did most of the damage for Astana, while Vasily Zavoruev's 3-point shooting kept the Russians in the game. With 6:17 to play, Astana held a slender 66-65 lead.

Turning Point
Astana would not be denied. Hayes and Caner-Medley sparked an 11-2 run, pushing the lead to 77-67 with two minutes remaining on the clock. Baskets from Maksim Tkachenko, Viacheslav Zaitcev and Zavoruev briefly cut the deficit to five, but it was too little too late. Astana wins, 81-74, and improves to 2-5.

Star Player
Nik Caner-Medley. The American forward was Astana's number one option on offense all afternoon. He helped the home team get off to a fast start and hit clutch shots in the final quarter. Not surprisingly, Nik finished with a game-high 29 points.

Stat of the Game
50 of 81. Caner-Medley and Hayes were terrific on offense, combining for 50 points.

Quotes
Astana head coach Ramunas Butautas:
- We were focused to start the game and determined to get a positive result. Once we started playing Oktyabr's game, however, we began to have problems. We allowed Oktyabr to get too comfortable, but still held on for the win.

Krasny Oktyabr head coach Kirill Bolshakov:
- The guys played pretty well overall. Dmitry Sokolov was injured during the course of the game. That's a big loss for us. It's a huge blow for our defense. You always want to win, not just play well.

Stats

Snapshot