Zalgiris survives thriller in Vilnius 0
Zalgiris Kaunas continued the Lithuanian League (LKL) campaign after playing more international games recently. The club from Kaunas visited Sakalai in Vilnius and escaped with a very narrow victory at the end – 86:84.
Tadas Klimavicius led the visitors with 23 points and Martynas Pocius scored 20 in the return to his hometown. Mantas Kalnietis made only 1 of 10 two-pointers, but still ended up with 16, as Mario Delas collected 11.
Zalgiris played without Marcus Brown, Dainius Salenga and Mirza Begic, who all were given some rest by coach Ramunas Butautas. Travis Watson is also out with an injury.
Sakalai’s 200 cm center Rolandas Matulis had a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds, Virginijus Sirvydis ended the game with 19 in his account, while Laurynas Samenas added 18.
“The game was awful. I’m not satisfied with how my team played today. Some of our key players didn’t play, so our youth was given a chance to showcase their skills. However, Sakalai players were right up there with us and I can only commend our opponents, who played very well today,” said coach Butautas.
The hosts managed to break away before halftime, using a 5:0 run at the end of the second quarter to build a 44:35 lead heading into the break.
Zalgiris bounced back from the unexpected start fairly quickly and took the lead at 47:46 behind Mario Delas’ basket. Sakalai gave another blow to the team that finished third in the VTB United League’s Final Four just before the weekend. The hosts relied on long-range shots to get the distance between the clubs to double-digits – 68:56.
The last quarter was a real battle, Zalgiris was in a hurry to close the deficit as soon as possible and finally managed to do so with about two minutes on the clock remaining. Martynas Pocius converted both foul shots to swing the lead back to Zalgiris (79:77) and then added another four successful shots from the line to pretty much decide the game.
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