Zalgiris Kaunas (14-18) ended their EuroLeague double-round week with a loss on the road. Andrea Trinchieri’s team lost 79-88 (18-23, 16-17, 27-23, 18-25) to ASVEL Villeurbanne (13-19).
Theo Maledon led the way with 19 points and 6 assists while Nando De Colo had 16 points and Paris Lee chipped in 12 points on 4 triples.
Zalgiris came into the game having lost at AS Monaco earlier in the week in overtime. Sylvain Francisco collected 19 points and 8 assists and Laurynas Birutis tied his career high with 18 points and had 8 rebounds.
ASVEL jumped ahead right away with a 2-10 lead with Maledon hitting a three-pointer for 5 points while Zalgiris connected on just 1 of its first 10 shots. The visitors finally started to make shots, but the cushion grew to double figures at 13-23 after a Maledon three-point play and Lee triple. Zalgiris got the gap to 18-23 after 10 minutes.
Birutis had two alley-oops for 10 points in getting Zalgiris within 22-23. ASVEL needed nearly 3 minutes to score with Edwin Jackson hitting a three-pointer. Maledon continued his strong game with 8 points and an assist as the lead was 26-36. Zalgiris trimmed the deficit to 4 points and the score was 34-40 at the break.
While Andre Roberson had 5 points for the hosts, Francisco tried to keep Zalgiris close, twice making it a 4-point game. ASVEL extended the cushion to 8 points again, but Zalgiris would not go away. Alen Smailagic, Francisco and Deividas Sirvydis all made triples in a 15-4 surge for Zalgiris’ first lead of the game, 58-55. Lee and De Colo both knocked down long balls and the home side led 61-63 after 30 minutes.
Lee and De Colo went back-to-back from long range early in the final frame and the advantage was 61-69. Two Birutis scores were answered by a David Lighty three-pointer to make it 65-74. It was 70-78 after Lee’s fourth triple. Zalgiris answered with the next 5 points for a three-point margin only to see Lighty drain another big three-pointer, De Colo converted 3 free throws for an 79-88 margin with 40 seconds left.
