Zalgiris Kaunas rolls past visiting Brose Bamberg 15
Zalgiris Kaunas registered its third win of the season, defeating visiting Brose Bamberg 86:72 at Zalgirio Arena on Thursday. With the win, the Lithuanian champion improved to 3-6, while Brose dropped to 2-7.
Thanks to 4 second-quarter triples from Kevin Pangos, the hosts went into halftime up 47:39, then in the third quarter doubled that advantage to 71:55. On the night, Zalgiris set season-highs with 11 three-pointers and 19 offensive rebound, and was a near-perfect 17 of 18 from the free throw line. Paulius Jankunas collected 23 points and 9 rebounds, Kevin Pangos finished 6-for12 from long range for 19 points and 6 assists, and Leo Westermann scored 10 in victory.
Daniel Theis had 15 points, Janis Strelnieks 14, and Fabien Causeur 12 in defeat.
Baskets were few and far between in the opening minutes of the game before the teams combined to hit 2 triples apiece on consecutive possessions – Pangos and Westermann for the hosts, Causeur and Patrick Heckmann for Bamberg. Causeur scored 9 points in the first eight minutes as Bamberg grabbed the lead and remained ahead 18:22 after the first quarter.
With the teams trading baskets early in the second, the margin reached 6 points before Zalgiris started to make a run. Arturas Milaknis hit a three-pointer and Lukas Lekavicius made a circus shot in the lane to give Zalgiris a 29:28 edge, before a pair of close range baskets from Brock Motum capped a 13:2 run that gave the hosts a 35:30 advantage. What followed in the final 2:30 of the half was a Pangos three-point show. Pangos hit 4 threes in that span, including a buzzer beater over Theis to make it 47:39 at halftime.
Pangos hit his sixth triple to open the third quarter, and Jankunas added one of his own to help open a 55:39 lead two minutes into the second half. Causeur sparked Bamberg’s offense and Theis had a pair of dunks for the visitors, but Zalgiris remained with a cushion thanks to a Motum floater, before Lima had a dunk and Westermann got a shooter’s roll on a three-pointer to open a 71:53 cushion.
Bamberg tried to make a push, with Strelnieks scoring a three-point play and Darius Miller hitting a triple with a hand in his face to cap a 2:10 run and get within 73:63. But the visitors could not do more than that, as they were held scoreless for almost four minutes. Westermann’s jumper made it 79:63 midway through the fourth, as Zalgriris closed it out.
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