Zalgiris outlasts Valencia to grab sixth win 14
Zalgiris Kaunas grabbed its second road win of the season by downing Valencia Basket at La Fonteta on Friday night. The visitors edged Valencia 80-76 to improve to 6-4 in the standings, while the hosts are now 4-6.
Rolands Smits paced Zalgiris with 19 points, with Keenan Evans adding 18 while Ignas Brazdeikis contributing 13.
Chris Jones had 19 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 steals for Valencia, and James Webb, Jared Harper and Klemen Prepelic also scored a double-digit number of points with 15, 12 and 10, respectively.
Webb stepped up early with a couple of three-pointers and a reverse slam, getting help from Jones and Bojan Dubljevic to give Valencia a 27-17 lead.
Lukas Lekavicius helped keep Zalgiris’s head above away, and Arnas Butkevicius’s three-point play got the guests within 29-31. Jones and Jasiel Rivero allowed Valencia to restore a 44-37 margin at halftime.
An unstoppable Jones kept pacing the hosts after the break, but Smits kept Zalgiris within 50-42. Brazdeikis got the guests even closer, 51-53, soon after that. Harper and Xabi Lopez-Arostegui found answers from beyond the arc to keep Valencia in charge, 61-59, after 30 minutes.
A 7-0 run that Prepelic capped with a triple gave Valencia a 71-67 lead with over 4 minutes left. Then, Tyler Cavanaugh had 5 points in a 9-0 run that put Zalgiris ahead for good, 77-71, before Edgaras Ulanovas sealed the deal from the foul line.
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