Montepaschi too strong for Zalgiris 0
Zalgiris left themselves only a theoretical chance to qualify for the Top-16 after a 72:83 loss to Montepaschi in Kaunas on Thursday evening.
Travis Watson’s amazing double-double of 17 points and 17 rebounds did not help Zalgiris clinch a much-needed victory. Tadas Klimavicius had a good performance as well, scoring 14 points and the trio of Marcus Brown, Mantas Kalnieties and Adas Juskevicius all had 9 points each.
David Hawkins had a game-high 20 points, Ksystof Lavrinovic added 16, as Benjamin Eze scored 12 and Terrell McIntyre was only shy of a double-double netting 10 points and dishing out 9 assists.
Zalgiris remains joint bottom in Group A together with Cibona. Both teams have a 1-6 record and are unlikely to progress to the next round.
The guests from Siena pulled away late in the opening quarter, as the Lithuanians could not offer anything that worked, despite being close for the most of the period. Montepaschi used a mini run at the end of the quarter to finish it with a 7 point lead – 24:17.
Henry Domercant’s free throws in the second period saw the Italians go ahead by a double-digit lead for the first time, but Zalgiris offered a fight back and got the score to 24:30. Montepaschi answered with 6 straight points and went further ahead once again, taking the score to 36:24. McIntyre hit a buzzer beater from downtown to increase the 14 point advantage that Montepaschi had to 17 at halftime.
The third quarter was the time for Zalgiris to shine. After playing the first half miserably, the club from Kaunas cut the deficit to 12 after baskets by Mantas Kalnietis and Travis Watson. Despite a time out, asked by Siena, Zalgiris continued to play strongly after the break. Adas Juskevicius came on as a substitute and scored 5 points in a row and the hosts were only behind by 7 at 45:52. With four minutes on the clock in the third period Tadas Klimavicus hit a three-pointer, but Terrell McIntyre answered with a three pointer and David Hawkins hung on the rim to send the distance back to 10 – 63:53. Zalgiris managed to cut this disadvantage in half and finished three quarters trailing by 5.
Siim-Sander Vene scored one of two from the foul line to make bring Zalgiris back to 4, but Montepaschi turned its game a gear higher and scored 4 unanswered points. Siena’s lead kept increasing and reached double-digits with five minutes on the clock. Zalgiris could not settle to show another comeback, as Montepaschi proved to be stronger once again.
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