Zalgiris starts pre-season with close win over Lietkabelis 3

As Zalgiris’ preparations for the upcoming season continue, the green-and-whites played their first closed-door friendly of the season, defeating Lietkabelis 75-72 (17-13, 12-18, 24-23, 22-18).

To start the neck-to-neck affair, it was Zach LeDay’s aggressive play helping Zalgiris to a slender lead in the opening quarter. All thirteen players had a chance to break a sweat not even halfway through the game, yet Zalgiris found themselves trailing at the break, 29-31.

It remained a heavy traffic road in the second half, as both teams picked up the pace. Alex Perez opened his point tally and was dishing out assists, yet the Panevezys side kept their noses in front.

Intensity reached its peak in the fourth period, as several terrific defensive sequences and a ferocious slam from Zach LeDay allowed Zalgiris to overtake their opponents and celebrate their first pre-season win, 75-72.

Zach Leday topped the scoring charts with 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting for Zalgiris. Arturas Milaknis took on the captain’s honors and added 11 points, while Thomas Walkup filled out the statsheet with 10 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals. Nigel Hayes and Alex Perez ended up scoring 7 apiece, with the latter also dishing out as many assists.

For Lietkabelis, Zeljko Sakic was the leading man with 13 points to his name, as Martynas Sajus added 10 points and 7 boards. Margiris Normantas finished the night with 9.

Full boxscore: http://bit.ly/2LnejfD