Zalgiris Kaunas (19-2) ended the week with a victory in the Betsafe-LKL Championship. Andrea Trinchieri’s team defeated CBet Jonava (10-11) by 89-62 (22-9, 19-20, 26-13, 22-20) at Zalgirio Arena.
Alen Smailagic opened the game with a shot from under the basket, Bryant Dunston scored 6 points, Arnas Butkevicius and Ignas Brazdeikis made layups, 12-3. Isaiah Wong scored on a fast break, Dovydas Giedraitis hit a three-pointer after an assist by Laurynas Birutis, Edgaras Ulanovas went hard inside and Deividas Sirvydis connected on a three-pointer to close out the first quarter, 22-9.
Ulanovas, Smailagic and Sylvain Francisco increased the lead to 28-16. Giedraitis scored a three-pointer and assisted Smailagic’s three-pointer and Brazdeikis'’ layup to make it 36-20. The visitors responded with a 9-1 run, which was interrupted by Francisco’s layup and Wong’s dunk at the buzzer to end the second period, 41-29.
In the first part of the third period, Zalgiris had 3 players scoring points: Sirvydis scored 6, Smailagic had 5, Brazdeikis added points for a 56-39 lead. Birutis scored 4 points and made a pass to Sirvydis, Wong rushed forward in a fast break, and Francisco scored from long range, 67-42.
Francisco and Wong made three-pointers to extend the gap to 30 points, 75-45, Birutis continued to dominate his opponents, Brady Manek and Matt Mitchell opened their scoring account, 81-54. At the end of the game, Birutis and Wong scored 4 more points each, 89-62.
Smailagic and Wong led the balanced scoring with 13 points. Birutis added 12 points, Sirvydis collected 11 points.
