Zalgiris takes down Baskonia at home 21

In a physical game that went down to the wire, Zalgiris Kaunas broke a three-game losing streak in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season by downing Baskonia Vitoria 79-75 in front of a sellout crowd at Zalgirio Arena on Friday night.

Zalgiris improved to 13-11 with the victory, but Baskonia keeps the tiebreaker and dropped to 13-11 after registering its fifth consecutive road loss.

Rolands Smits paced the winners with 20 points on 7-of-7 two-point shots. Edgaras Ulanovas added 16, while Ignas Brazdeikis had 15 for Zalgiris.

Markus Howard led Baskonia with 15 points. Maik Kotsar added 12, and Rokas Giedraitis had 11 for the guests, which led 73-75 in the penultimate minute of the game. Smits hit a hook shot, then Arnas Butkevicius and Tomas Dimsa sealed the outcome from the foul line.

Kotsar scored down low and Howard buried a three-pointer for an early 4-7 Baskonia lead. Butkevicius stepped up with a putback layup and Smits added a couple of jumpers for a 12-12 tie. Ulanovas and Laurynas Birutis helped Zalgiris get a 20-18 advantage after 10 minutes.

Steven Enoch took over early in the second quarter, then Howard and Giedraitis each struck from downtown for a 26-27 Baskonia lead. Howard and Giedraitis kept pacing Baskonia, Darius Thompson added consecutive baskets, and Matt Costello’s backdoor layup fixed the halftime score at 38-42.

Dovydas Giedraitis struck from beyond the arc soon after the break and Smits allowed Zalgiris to regain a 46-44 lead. Brazdeikis’ three-pointer boosted his team’s lead to 54-49 soon after that. Kotsar stepped up for Baskonia, getting help from Tadas Sedekerskis and Sander Raieste to keep Baskonia within 61-60 after 30 minutes.

Vanja Marinkovic and Max Heidegger restored a 65-69 Baskonia lead. Ulanovas followed a wild three-point play with a jumper to turn the game into a thriller, 71-71, with under four minutes left. It all came down to the final two minutes, in which Smits hit a critical shot and Butkevicius and Dimsa were ice-cold from the foul line, before Zalgiris’s defense did the rest.