Motum leads Zalgiris past Galatasaray 10
Zalgiris Kaunas registered its second win of the season by downing visiting Galatasaray Istanbul 87:75 on Wednesday night in Zalgirio Arena. The win snapped Zalgiris’s four-game losing streak, and improved the team’s record to 2-5, while Galatasaray remains alone at the bottom of the standings at 1-6.
Zalgiris took control behind Kevin Pangos and Brock Motum, using a 14:2 second quarter run to take the lead for good. After holding a 47:35 halftime lead, the hosts continued dominating early in the third quarter and extended the margin to 20 points. Galatasaray tried to rally late, but never threatened.
Motum finished the game with 24 points, Leo Westermann had 16 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists, while Pangos had 9 points and a career-high 8 assists.
For the visitors, Sinan Guler scored 11 of his 15 points in the first half, Blake Schilb netted 12 points, while Emir Preldzic and Justin Dentmon finished with 11 apiece.
Early on, Pangos scored 7 points and Sinan Guler had 6, as both were facilitators for their respective squads. The teams went basket for basket, with neither team building margin larger than 3 points. Guler made a layup to make it 20:20 after 10 minutes, and his triple gave Galatasaray a 25:28 edge in the second stanza.
However, it was all Zalgiris after that. Arturas Milaknis hit a pair of threes, and Pangos dished in transition for Motum’s corner three-pointer. Westermann also added a pair of basket, including a floater that capped a 14:2 run for a 39:30 lead.
Pangos beat the halftime buzzer after driving three-quarter length of the court to make it 49:37, and Motum had a triple and a put-back early in fourth to extend the margin to 56:39. Galatasaray was not finding its rhythm on offense, and a long baseline jumper from Renaldas Seibutis broke the 20-point barrier with two minutes left in the third quarter.
A triple from the right corner by each Jon Diebler and Preldzic at the start of the fourth, followed by a fastbreak dunk from Preldzic, cut the deficit to 70:59. Back-to-back triples from Schilb made it 75:67 midway through the fourth. But the visitors never got closer than that, as Zalgiris got enough defensive stops down the stretch, and fine assists from Westermann and big baskets from Motum to avoid drama at the end of the game.
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