Superb Keenan Evans leads Zalgiris past Bayern Munich 6

Zalgiris Kaunas protected its home floor for the second game in a row after beating Bayern Munich 75-67 in front of a sold-out Zalgirio Arena on Friday night.

The hosts took control in the second quarter behind Keenan Evans, who scored 21 of his career-high 32 points in the first half. Zalgiris opened a double-digit margin early in the third quarter and never looked back, improving to 8-7, which is good enough to share the seventh-best record in the standings.

Meanwhile, Bayern could not overcome the absence of Vladimir Lucic, Andreas Obst, Ognjen Jaramaz and Nick Weiler-Babb, as it dropped to 5-10 on the season.

In addition to Evans, who shot 5-for-9 from three-point land and also had 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals, the only other Zalgiris player who got into double figures was Edgaras Ulanovas with 18.

Corey Walden netted 18 for Bayern and Augustine Rubit had 17, while Cassius Winston finished with 10 points, 9 assists and 4 steals in the losing effort.

Both teams started with a quick pace and knocked down shots from long range. Walden had 7 early points, and his triple followed by a three-pointer by Niels Giffey made it 11-15 to the visitors. But, back-to-back three-point makes from Evans and Rolands Smits fueled a 10-3 run, as Zalgiris led 26-21 after the first quarter.

Another three from Walden helped Bayern regain the advantage, 26-28, early in the second, but the hosts stepped up defensively and made another charge behind Evans, this time to take a 44-35 margin into halftime.

Bayern briefly threatened at the start of the third, with Rubit netting a three-pointer, but Evans and Ulanovas combined for 12 points to push the lead to double digits. Then, close-range buckets from Tomas Dimsa and Ignas Brazdeikis opened a 60-46 advantage late in the third.

Bayern was struggling to click on offense and found it impossible to cut the deficit to single digits, with Evans increasing the gap to 18 points, 72-54, the largest of the night. The visitors managed to trim the deficit in the final moments, but Zalgiris held its nerve to celebrate a drama-free win.