Zalgiris forces OT but loses to Barcelona in Kaunas 34
Zalgiris Kaunas came back from 13-point fourth quarter deficit to force overtime, but eventually lost to FC Barcelona Lassa 85-88 at packed Zalgirio Arena on Friday.
Barcelona improved to 5-2 and now shares fourth place with AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan and Anadolu Efes Istanbul. Zalgiris fell to 3-4 and remains winless at home this season after four tries.
Kyle Kuric hit 5 of 6 three-pointers to lead five double-digit scorers for Barcelona. Ante Tomic added 14, Thomas Heurtel and Jaka Blazic 11 each, and Kevin Pangos 10.
Zalgiris got 21 points off the bench from Aaron White, whose dunk in the final minute of the fourth quarter forced overtime. The hosts also had 19 points from Nate Wolters and 12 from Brandon Davies but suffered from collective 5-for-22 three-point shooting.
Big men Tomic and Davies shared 5 two-pointers before Kuric squeezed off 2 triples for a 9-18 Barcelona lead. Thomas Walkup got Zalgiris within a basket before Heurtel’s triple left Barcelona up 23-18 after 10 minutes.
Deep strikes from Blazic and Victor Claver forged the first double-digit lead, 20-30. Wolters and Walkup answered from the arc, but Kuric hit his fourth from the same distance as Barcelona hung onto a 34-39 halftime lead.
Antanas Kavaliauskas and Wolters led a Zalgiris charge to within 47-49, but Blazic sparked a closing surge to a 50-60 Barcelona advantage after three quarters.
White tried to drag Zalgiris back, but Chris Singleton’s triple meant Barcelona’s biggest lead, 59-72 with 5 minutes left. Free throws from White and Davies later cut the difference to 70-74 before White’s steal fell to Wolters for a layup. Heurtel and Wolters exchanged layups next, then White forged a 76-76 tie on a fastbreak dunk with 40 seconds left to force overtime.
In the extra period, Tomic’s free throws fell before Pangos exploded for 5 points in a row to put Barcelona up 76-83. White’s put-back came ended 3 scoreless minutes for Zalgiris and his free throws made it 82-86 with 1:25 left in OT, but Barcelona finally had enough to win.
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