Andrea Trinchieri debuts with Zalgiris win over ALBA 23
Zalgiris Kaunas started the Andrea Trinchieri era with a hard-fought home victory, knocking off ALBA Berlin 77-71 in Round 18 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.
That win snapped a six-game losing streak for Zalgiris. Lukas Lekavicius hit a left-handed floater with 31 seconds left to make it 74-71, then Edgaras Ulanovas converted 2 free throws with 19 seconds to play to secure the win in front of a sold-out Zalgirio Arena.
Zalgiris improved to a 6-12 record thanks to Keenan Evans scoring 13 points, while Tomas Dimsa picked up 12 points and 5 rebounds on his 30th birthday and Ulanovas added 10 points.
ALBA missed a chance to finally win on the road, dropping its ninth straight away for a 3-15 record.
The first quarter was close throughout, with Zalgiris draining 6 three-pointers and ALBA attempting 12 free throws. The guests led 22-25 after 10 minutes.
The Zalgiris three-pointers kept falling and the cushion grew to 10 points, 37-27, midway through the second half. Zalgiris led 48-41 at intermission.
ALBA’s defense slowed down Zalgiris a bit in the third quarter and pulled within 54-52. ALBA did not score in the final 3:52 of the third quarter and Zalgiris was up 61-52 after 30 minutes.
The hosts re-established a 10-point lead, 64-54, only to have ALBA score the next 8 points and tie the game 66-66. The guests reclaimed the lead 68-69 and after it went back and forth, Lekavicius got the big shot and then Sterling Brown committed an offensive foul drawn by Tomas Dimsa.
Facebook comments