Zalgiris is handed the first loss of the season 34
A surprising result landed in Zalgirio Arena, as the green-and-whites couldn’t take care of business in the Betsafe-LKL, falling short to Lietkabelis Panevezys, 61-72. It was the first defeat for Lithuanian champions this season.
The guest team scored the first basket but Zalgiris surged to 14-5 lead and was in front 19-13 after 10 minutes. Kaunas team maintained narrow margin in the second quarter, and led 36-33 at halftime.
The third quarter was a game-changer. Lietkabelis started it hot, made 7 three-pointers and on the shoulders of Kyle Vinales created a double-digit lead, 47-62.
Zalgiris put on an iron defense in the fourth quarter and didn’t allow Lietkabelis to score for more than 6 minutes in one stretch. However, the hosts themselves were toothless on the offensive end and scored only 6 points in the same span. That wasn’t enough, as Panevezys got the first victory of the season.
Vinales was the top scorer of the game with 20 points, while Paulius Valinskas scored 13.
Augustien Rubit scored 11 points for Zalgiris. Joffrey Lauvergne had 10 points, while Steve Vasturia finished the game with 9 points.
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