Zalgiris beats Bayern at home 17

Zalgiris Kaunas remained in the playoff race by beating FC Bayern Munich 85-79 in front of almost 15,000 fans at Zalgirio Arena on Thursday. Zalgiris improved to 11-15 and 12th in the regular season standings, while Bayern dropped to 12-16 and 11th overall.

Marius Grigonis led the winners with 18 points, Brandon Davies added 16, Leo Westermann had 12 while Edgaras Ulanovas and Thomas Walkup each scored 10 for Zalgiris.

Nihad Dedovic led Bayern with 17 points and Derrick Williams, Devin Booker and Vladimir Lucic each scored 10 for the visitors.

Leon Radosevic got Bayern going with a jump hook, as the visitors’ defense held Zalgiris scoreless in the opening 3 minutes. Zalgiris finally got Davies involved, but a jumper by Booker and a three-pointer by Maodo Lo restored a 4-7 Bayern lead. Davies scored down low to ignite a 7-0 run in which Aaron White and Grigonis dunked to give the hosts an 11-7 edge. Booker stepped up with an alley-oop slam, Lucic and Westermann exchanged triples and a floater by Grigonis gave Zalgiris a 16-12 edge. Williams and Braydon Hobbs each struck from downtown, but Arturas Milaknis and Walkup kept the hosts ahead, 22-20, after 10 minutes.

Deon Thompson scored down low early in the second quarter and Milaknis added a three-pointer for a 27-22 Zalgiris lead. Dedovic answered from beyond the arc, but White erased it with a layup-plus-foul and Grigonis added a floater that caused Bayern to stop the game at 32-25. Milaknis insisted from downtown and Bayern found answers on offense through Booker and Dedovic. Davies stepped up with a jumper, a dunk and an acrobatic layup that made it a double-digit margin, 41-31. Grigonis hit a triple and consecutive dunks by an unstoppable Davies gave Zalgiris a 48-35 advantage at halftime.

Westermann sank his second three-pointer soon after the break and Grigonis added a layup to break the game open at 53-37. Ulanovas took over with consecutive baskets and a tip-in by Davies kept the hosts fully in charge, 59-42. Lo followed a jumper with a backdoor layup, but Walkup did better with 5 quick points. Dedovic tried to change things for Bayern and a layup by Booker brought the visitors within 69-53 after 30 minutes.

Dedovic kept pacing the Bayern early in the fourth quarter and got help from Lucic to give Bayern hope at 72-59 with 7 minutes to go. Grigonis and Westermann quickly stepped up for Zalgiris, but Dedovic, Petteri Koponen and Nemanja Dangubic fueled a 0-9 run that brought Bayern within single digits, 77-68, with 4 minutes left. Ulanovas rescued Zalgiris with consecutive triples only for Koponen and Williams to answer from downtown. Dangubic brought Bayern even closer, 83-76. Lucic added a layup with 17.7 seconds left, but it was too little, too late for the visitors.