Zalgiris suffers its first local defeat in Vilnius 71
Zalgiris Kaunas (8-1) suffered their first defeat in the Betsafe-LKL Championship. Lithuanian champions lost 64-75 (14-17, 19-13, 12-22, 19-23) to Wolves Vilnius (8-1) on the road.
In the first minutes of the game, Zalgiris couldn’t make a basket, which gave the hosts a 1-9 lead. Naz Mitrou-Long and Laurynas Birutis scored the first points of live-play, 5-11. In the rest of the first period, Birutis, Edgaras Ulanovas and Arnas Butkevicius collected points from the free-throw line to make it 14-17.
At the beginning of the second quarter, Brady Manek converted a long range shot, Butkevicius cut under the basket, and Rolands Smits scored 4 points, 23-24. Ulanovas made some good passes to find Mitrou-Long at the three-point line and Manek under the basket, as the score turned in Zalgiris’ favor for the first time, 29-28. Birutis scored after a pass from Keenan Evans, and Mitrou-Long fed the ball to Manek for the dunk, as Zalgiris led 33-30 at halftime.
Ulanovas and Mitrou-Long beat their opponents in the transition, and the latter scored from mid-range to increase Zalgiris’ lead, 40-32. Kevarrius Hayes converted the offensive rebound, but in the remaining six minutes of the third quarter only Birutis scored 3 points and Zalgiris was behind again, 45-52.
Evans scored his first points at the start of fourth quarter, 49-54. Ulanovas scored after a pass from Smits, Smits made a three-pointer himself, Mitrou-Long added 3 free throws, Butkevicius finished the drive, but the hosts, who were shooting well from downtown, pulled away 59-69. Manek’s free throws and Mitrou-Long’s 2+1 cut the difference in half, 64-69. However, Wolves made two more three-pointers to end the intrigue, 64-75.
Mitrou-Long was the leading scorer with 15 points and 5 assists. Birutis added 11 points, while Manek scored 9.
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