Jonava upset Zalgiris in Mantas Kalnietis’ farewell game 36
Zalgiris Kaunas (15-2) bid farewell to Mantas Kalnietis, who played his last game with the Lithuanian powerhouse, in their home game against Jonava.
The atmosphere in the Zalgirio Arena was celebratory, with 9,249 home fans in attendance, however, the hosts were in for a surprise, as Jonava (10-7) ended their eight-game winning streak by the score 76-80 (12-22, 26-21, 24-13, 14-24).
With a minute left, Edgaras Ulanovas trimmed the deficit to just one point (73-74), but soon Glynn Watson gave the answer (73-78).
Then, Lukas Lekavicius hit a three-pointer (76-78), but Bickauskis secured the victory from the charity stripe.
In the last match of his career, the 36-year-old Kalnietis spent 20 minutes on the court, during which he scored 5 points (1/3 2PT shots, 1/3 3PT shots), 1 rebound, 3 assists, and 3 turnovers.
Rolands Smits scored 16 points (4/5 2FG, 2/3 3FG, 2/2 FT) in 23 minutes, and made 3 steals for a PIR of 16. Edgaras Ulanovas added 14, while Laurynas Birutis had 13 points.
For Jonava, Glynn Watson had 19 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists and 19 in PIR.
Despite the loss, Zalgiris set a new season attendance record, breaking the previous one that belonged to Siauliai who gathered 5,037 fans in their clash with the EuroLeague side in January.
Zalgiris’ season attendance record for LKL had been 3,573 fans who watched the match vs. Lietkabelis in December.
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