ATYRAU/ASTANA (KNL Leagues) - Barsy Atyrau clinched the Kazakhstan Division 1 regular season title after splitting their games against six-time defending KNL champions Astana Tigers.

The result means Barsy enter the playoffs as the top-seeded team and will take on Kaspiy Aktau in the semi-finals.

Astana, who finished behind Barsy, will match wits with Tobol, a team they defeated in the finals in the last four years.

The semi-finals series get under way on Saturday.

In the first game against Astana, Dmitri Dyatlovsky led the way for Barsy as they prevailed 75-67. Andrey Endropov had 17 points.

Kazakhstan international Rustam Yargaliyew paced Astana with 16 points.

In the second game, Yargaliyew (pictured) went for 20 points and took charge of leading Astana to a comfortable 92-71 win.

Lithuanian forward Villius Gabsys and center Dmitriy Gavrilov contributed 17 points each in the win.

Edgar Chunda was Barsy’s highest scorer with 14 points.

Astana take on Irtysh for women’s crown

In the women’s section, reigning champions Astana Tigers and Irtysh swept their semi-final series 2-0 and will now battle it out for the title.

Irtysh pipped Okzhetpes 81-79 in Game 1 of their series and then played well within themselves to take Game 2 by the score of 72-67.

Astana, on the other hand, cantered through in both their games against BK Almaty, winning 101-62 and 74-67.

The best-of-three-games Finals will tip off on 13 April.

FIBA Asia