Zalgiris loses against ALBA at home 64
Zalgiris Kaunas suffered a 71-79 loss against ALBA Berlin in the EuroLeague Round 8 on Friday night at Zalgirio arena.
Marcus Eriksson led ALBA with 16 points, while Oscar Da Silva added 15. Luke Sikma had 10 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals, and Ben Lammers scored 10.
Tyler Cavanaugh led the resistance for Zalgiris with 17 points, while Janis Strelnieks hit four triples in his tally of 16 points and Lukas Lekavicius added 11.
The early scoring was shared evenly as Da Silva scored twice for ALBA while Josh Nebo did the same for the host. Eriksson and Maodo Lo made three-pointers, before Louis Olinde added a tip-in for a 6-15 lead. Lammers was on target twice under the basket to complete a 0-12 run, with Zalgiris held scoreless for more than 4 minutes. Marek Blazevic got Zalgiris back on the board, but Tamir Blatt struck from deep to make it 10-22 after ten minutes.
Lekavicius pulled the host closer with a three-point play, Niels Giffey added a three-pointer and Arturas Milaknis scored inside as the deficit was reduced to 18-23. Da Silva and Strelnieks traded triples, before Sikma had a three-point play and a three-pointer to make it 21-32. Mantas Kalnietis struck from deep and Strelnieks made a long two, but Eriksson returned with another triple. Cavanaugh scored twice inside and then hit from deep for a personal 7-0 run. Sikma scored off the glass but Cavanaugh stayed hot with another inside score and Nebo added a putback dunk, making it 37-41 at half-time.
Strelnieks opened the second half with a three-pointer, but Sikma, Da Silva and Lo scored inside to keep ALBA ahead. Cavanaugh’s corner three made it 43-47, before Da Silva’s alley-oop slam and Eriksson’s three-pointer made the visitors comfortable again, and Johannes Thiemann restored a double-digit lead, 43-54. Lekavicius and Yovel Zoosman both scored 4 fast points, before 5 points from Strelnieks fixed the score at 52-62 at the end of the third.
A slow start to the fourth quarter was followed by a Zalgiris burst as Cavanaugh’s three-point play was followed by a triple from Milaknis, but Blatt struck back from long-range for ALBA. Cavanaugh’s layup kept ALBA hoping, but Eriksson’s floater and a deep two from Lammers made it 62-71 going into the final 3 minutes. Lammers added a layup for another double-digit margin, before Nebo’s alley-oop dunk, another Strelnieks triple and a Lekavicius layup narrowed it to 69-75 in the last minute. But free throws from Eriksson and Lo allowed ALBA to seal the win.
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