LKL finals: Zalgiris takes 2-0 lead in Vilnius 0

Zalgiris Kaunas made a big step towards its Lithuanian League title defense, beating Lietuvos Rytas 78-62 on the road to take 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven final series.

James Anderson scored first 7 points for Zalgiris. A bit later triples from Will Cherry and Arturas Milaknis helped Zalgiris take control in the first quarter at 22-16.

Darius Songaila, Paulius Jankunas and Anderson fueled a 17-2 run in the second for 39-22 lead. Lietuvos rytas made two long distance shots, but Anderson finished the quarter with 2+1 and it was 44-30 at halftime for the guests.

Alley-oop from Cherry to Anderson kept the margin above 15 points in the third quarter before Mike Moser hit a triple, followed by Billy Baron stringing together 8 points to cut the deficit to 47-54.

But Anderson, Milaknis and Siim-Sander Vene each hit from long range in the first five minutes of the fourth period to make it 67-52, as Zalgiris cruised to Game 2 win.

Anderson paced Zalgiris with 24 points and Milaknis netted 13 in victory. Baron finished with 20 points for Rytas.