White lifts Zalgiris over Milan 37
Aaron White single-handedly outscored AX Armani Milan 14-3 in a run that bridged the third and fourth quarters to give Zalgiris Kaunas control for good en route to a 77-65 victory on Tuesday night at Zalgirio Arena.
The visitors led by 5 late in the third quarter, but once the Lithuanian champs got going they never stopped in improving their record to 16-11. Aaron White finished with 16 points and 8 rebounds to lead Zalgiris, Paulius Jankunas posted 15 points, Brandon Davies added 11 and Kevin Pangos dished 10 assists for the victors.
Former Zalgiris center Arturas Gudaitis shined with 19 points and 10 rebounds for Milan, another ex-Zalgiris player Mindaugas Kuzminskas added 12 points and Curtis Jerrells scored 10 in a defeat that dropped the team record to 9-18.
Davies opened the scoring with a hook shot and Jankunas added a layup as the hosts took charge. Nearly three and a half minutes passed before Gudaitis got the visitors on the scoreboard with free throws and Pangos netted 5 points for an 11-2 Zalgiris advantage before Gudaitis got going with the visitors’ first two baskets. Kuzminskas buried a three and sank free throws to draw Milan within 12-11. Vasilije Micic revived the Zalgiris attack with a layup. Kuzminskas added another three, but Zalgiris retained a slim lead, 17-16, after 10 minutes.
Beno Udrih found Antanas Kavaliauskas for a layup before splitting free throws himself as Zalgiris stretched its lead. Triples by Dairis Bertans and Amath M’Baye evened the score at 24-24 midway through the second quarter. M’Baye came up with a block on one end and a floater on the other to give Milan its first lead, 26-28. The lead changed hands twice more before a three by Bertans left the visitors ahead 31-34 at the break.
The lead switched hands a few more times early in the second half with Zalgiris unable to find a way to stop Gudaitis in the paint, but Arturas Milaknis rising to the occasion with 6 points. After Edgaras Ulanovas split free throws, the score was tied, 42-42, midway through the third quarter. Milan took charge with a three by Jerrells and a Kaleb Tarczewski put-back slam to lead by 5, but a pair of Micic layups got the crowd involved and Kavaliauskas tied it twice. Micic completed the comeback with a basket-plus-foul and White beat the third-quarter buzzer with a perfectly-timed put-back layup for a 54-50 advantage.
White scored the first 6 points of the fourth quarter to create the first double-digit lead of the game, 60-50. Gudaitis stopped the bleeding with a three-point play, but White dunked on an alley-oop from Pangos and again on a pass from Jankunas to stamp his authority on the game. The lead peaked at 71-56 with two and a half minutes remaining after another White put-back and Milan never threatened again.
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