Injuries overshadow the second victory of preseason 0

Head coach Gintaras Krapikas wasn’t pleased on Saturday even if his team had just won the game. Zalgiris captured 71:67 win vs. Kiev Budivelnik, but lost guards Arturas Milaknis and Vytenis Cizauskas due to the injuries.

Krapikas started the match already without Dainius Salenga, Travis Watson and Zygimantas Janavicius, who all were allowed to sit out the game because of minor pains.

Anyhow Zalgiris gained the lead from the opening minutes and were in front 24:19 after first quarter. The margin increased at the half (44:34), but few seconds till that Cizauskas had to leave the court with thigh injury.

Zalgiris’ advantage increased to 15 points at the end of third quarter (61:46). However things got worse in the next minutes, when Milaknis hurt his ankle and left coach Krapikas short on the guard options. Budivelnik players managed to cut the difference to 2 points (65:67), but Martynas Pocius and Povilas Cukinas didn’t enable Ukrainians to take a single lead in the game.

Later it was announced that Milaknis and Cizauskas will have to miss 3 weeks each to heal their injuries.

Zalgiris: M.Pocius 14 (7 rebounds), A.Milaknis 13, T.Klimavicius 10, P.Butkevicius 9, P.Cukinas 7, S.Vene 5, A.Juskevicius 5, S.Vasiliauskas 4, M.Begic 2, V.Cizauskas 2.

Budivelnik: K.El-Amin 17, A.Malysh 13, G.Khizhnyak 8 (12 rebounds).