Zalgiris crumbles in Vitoria 13
Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz led from start to finish in its Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season finale, beating Zalgiris Kaunas 96-79 on Friday night at Buesa Arena. Baskonia ends the season with a 12-16 record, while Zalgiris drops to 7-20 with one game to go.
Baskonia had seven scorers in double figures. Steven Enoch led with 18 points and 6 rebounds, followed by Rokas Giedraitis with 17 points. Matthew Costello scored 15, Tadas Sedekerskis collected 11 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Simone Fontecchio also scored 11 with 6 assists, while Alec Peters and Vanja Marinkovic netted 10 apiece.
Lukas Lekavicius led Zalgiris with a game-high 20 points. Karolis Lukosiunas netted 12, and Joffrey Lauvergne 10 points in a losing effort.
Baskonia opened the game with a 15-2 run, featuring a triple from Giedraitis, and some easy baskets for Costello, Fontecchio and Peters. Niels Giffey had a tip-in and Lauvergne a dunk to cut it to 19-8, but the hosts answered with an 11-1 run as Enoch, Giedraitis and Fontecchio each nailed three-pointers. Tyler Cavanaugh made a corner three for the visitors, but Peters beat the buzzer from close range to make it 35-15 after 10 minutes.
Marinkovic opened the second quarter with a three-pointer, and Sedekerskis added one of his own to make it 41-17. Lukosiunas knocked down a triple for Zalgiris, but Fontecchio matched that with a basket-and-one, before Enoch and Sedekerskis opened a 52-32 margin. Lauvergne and Edgaras Ulanovas gave Zalgiris life, before Lukosiunas and Lekavicius nailed a triple apiece. Nebo ended the first half with a put-back layup, capping a 3-16 run that made it 57-40 at halftime.
Costello scored twice early in the third quarter, before Arturas Milaknis connected from downtown. Giedraitis hit a triple, but Lukosiunas answered, and Lekavicius cut the deficit to 66-50. But Costello had a three-point play as he strung together 7 points, before Marinkovic capped a quarter-ending 11-0 run that opened a 77-50 margin after 30 minutes.
The hosts slowed down in the fourth. Giedraitis connected again from behind the three-point arc, but Lekavicius scored twice for Zalgiris, before Milaknis and Lekavicius nailed triples, cutting it to 84-66. Marinkovic had a three-pointer, before Lukosiunas and Giedraitis traded triples as the game winded down with Baskonia having the victory wrapped up long ago.
Facebook comments