Jankunas leads Zalgiris to Garastas Cup final 0

Zalgiris advanced to the Vladas Garastas Cup title game by downing Nizhny Novgorod 72-56 in Klaipeda on Monday. The team from Kaunas will meet Lokomotiv-Kuban Krasnodar in the final after the Russian club defeated Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius 96-77.

Paulius Jankunas paced Zalgiris team with 20 points and 6 rebounds. Siim-Sander Vene added 9 points for Zalgiris, which trailed 36-41 at halftime. Zalgiris excelled on defense after the break, allowing just 15 second-half points.

On the first day of Garastas Cup tournament Zalgiris suffered a loss to Neptunas 77-79. It was a close game, but the hosts from Klaipeda were more accurate in the closing minutes. However, the loss by small margin didn’t prevent Zalgiris from getting into the final.

Jankunas was the leader in this game as well scoring 19 points and grabbing 7 rebounds. Tadas Klimavicius helped with 12 points and 5 rebounds. While point guard Justin Dentmon made the debut in green&white and scored 11 points.