Pangos leads Zalgiris to big road win 6

Zalgiris Kaunas sent a message that echoed all around the competition by downing Anadolu Efes Istanbul 71:84 on the road on Tuesday. Zalgiris improved to 5-8 and recorded its second road win in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague regular season, while Efes dropped to 6-7.

Kevin Pangos led the winners with 15 points on 5-of-6 three-point shooting. Edgaras Ulanovas added 14 on 5-of-5 two-point shooting, while Brock Motum scored 11 for Zalgiris.

Thomas Heurtel led Efes with 18 points, Derrick Brown added 16 and Tyler Honeycutt had 12 for the hosts.

Zalgiris found good options on offense throughout the first half, hitting 17 of 20 two-point shots (85%) and outrebounding Efes 7:18. As many as 10 Zalgiris players scored in the first half, helping their team get a 14-point lead, 30:44. Despite committing 16 turnovers, Zalgiris kept powering the boards and kept a double-digit lead all the way until the final buzzer.

A dunk by Augusto Lima and a layup by Paulius Jankunas gave Zalgiris an early 0:4 lead. Bryant Dunston and Cedi Osman stepped up for Efes and a layup by Heurtel caused the visitors to call timeout at 8:6. Renaldas Seibutis had 4 points in a 0:6 run and Lukas Lekavicius followed a layup with a jumper to give Zalgiris a 13:16 edge after 10 minutes.

Zalgiris found new go-to guys, as a layup by Antanas Kavaliauskas, a three-pointer by Arturas Milaknis and an off-balance basket by Ulanovas saw Efes stop the game at 16:25. Dogus Balbay took over with a couple of triples, getting help from Brown and Honeycutt to bring Efes within 26:29. Zalgiris improved its defense off a timeout. Lima and Ulanovas converted respective three-point plays and Pangos struck from downtown to boost the margin to 30:44 at halftime.

Brown tried to change things with a three-pointer and a layup-plus-foul soon after the break. Pangos hit a three-pointer, and another, and another to prompt Efes to call timeout at 40:55. Kavaliauskas scored twice around the basket and Pangos hit his fifth three-pointer to break the game open, 47:64, enough for Zalgiris to keep a 51:66 margin after 30 minutes.

Nothing changed from that moment, as Zalgiris played twin point guards – with Leo Westermann and Pangos together on court – to keep full control of the game. A corner three-pointer by Motum sealed the outcome at 58:76 midway through the fourth quarter.