Keenan Evans leads Zalgiris in a win against Unicaja 0

Zalgiris Kaunas started the Costa del Sol Tournament in Spain with a 79-72 win over Unicaja Malaga on Monday.

Unicaja came out with a good scoring pace and led 2-9 at the start. Edgaras Ulanovas and Tomas Dimsa put an end to the offensive difficulties for Zalgiris, who little by little came back (13-16). However, the Spanish team led 15-22 after first quarter.

Zalgiris raised defensive awareness in the second period and got in front 28-26, as Keenan Evans, Rolands Smits and Laurynas Birutis took a step forward. Unicaja once again turned the score to their side at the break – 35-37.

After the break, Evans scored 5 straight points, Tyler Cavanaugh added a three-pointer – 43-40. Unicaja responded, but a 2+1 possessions by Birutis and Smits closed the third quarter with 58-56 Zalgiris lead.

Dimsa and Cavanaugh connected from downtown to open the last quarter (68-64). Later the final push was delivered by Evans and Smits to run away 75-66 and the game was close by the score 79-72.

Evans led the scorers with 17 points. Smits was good inside with 13 points and 9 rebounds, while Birutis and Dimsa added 12 and 10 points respectively.

Dylan Osetkowski and Tyler Kalinoski scored 16 points each for Unicaja.