Milan shoots the lights out in the final 19
AX Armani Exchange Milan is the first WE’RE BACK PRESEASON TOUR tournament winner. Milan ended a weekend of great basketball by downing Zalgiris Kaunas 88-70 at Zalgirio Arena on Sunday.
Kevin Punter paced the winners with 26 points. Malcolm Delaney added 14 and Sergio Rodriguez 11 for Milan.
Thomas Walkup led Zalgiris with 13 points and Arturas Milaknis added 10 for the hosts.
Zalgiris held Milan scoreless in the opening 3 minutes as Marius Grigonis struck from downtown for a 0-5 lead. Milan improved its defense and found a go-to guy in Punter, who had 10 quick points, getting help from Delaney and Kyle Hines to give his team a 17-11 lead. LeDay soon made it a double-digit game, 23-13, after 10 minutes.
A zone defense allowed Zalgiris to stop Milan early in the second quarter. The hosts looked for Martinas Geben and Joffrey Lauvergne down low to get a bit closer at 25-18. Delaney rescued his team with a catch-and-shoot corner triple that Vladimir Micov followed with a driving layup at 30-18. Punter capped an 11-0 Milan run with a three-pointer to break the game open, 36-18. Grigonis answered from beyond the arc and Lauvergne dunked but Delaney buried back-to-back triples to make it 42-23. Hines downed a put-back layup and Michael Roll scored in penetration to fix the halftime score at 46-23.
Walkup tried to ignite a Zalgiris comeback with a bomb from downtown right after the break. Lauvergne and Milaknis each scored around the basket as Milan called timeout at 48-30. Rodriguez briefly silenced the crowd with a pair of three-pointers but Walkup kept Zalgiris within 54-36. Rodriguez insisted from beyond the arc and fed LeDay for a dunk that kept Milan way ahead, 61-40. Jokubaitis capped a 0-7 Zalgiris run with a triple, and Geben added a layup-plus-foul for a 63-50 score after 30 minutes.
Geben dunked early in the fourth quarter, then Lukas Lekavicius and Milaknis each buried a three-pointer, but an unstoppable Punter single-handedly kept Milan way ahead, 76-58. Zalgiris kept trying but Milan had cruised to a well-deserved win.
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