Zalgiris Kaunas made it three wins out of three in this season’s EuroLeague with a 98-70 road rout of Bayern Munich, whose former guard Sylvain Francisco shined for the visitors as he racked up 19 points and 7 assists.
Maodo Lo, another former Bayern player, came off the bench to add 10 points for Zalgiris which sank an impressive 14-of-24 shots from long range. Dustin Sleva added 14 points for the visiting team while Laurynas Birutis and Moses Wright right chipped in with 11 apiece.
Andreas Obst led Bayern on 15 points and Xavier Rathan-Mayes amassed 13.
Zalgiris struggled from inside initially as the visitors missed their opening six shots in the paint but they hit four of their opening five efforts from downtown to take an 16-11 lead, closing out the first quarter with a 26-20 advantage as Francisco sank 9 points including a long buzzer-beating three-pointer.
Francisco, who celebrated his birthday that day, continued to pull the strings for Zalgiris in the second quarter as he facilitated a delicious dunk for Laurynas Birutis and Zalgiris then stretched its lead to 39-24, with Bayern’s offense ground to a halt.
Having led 45-33 at halftime on the back of 14 points from the unstoppable Francisco, Zalgiris kept going at full throttle as the French superstar mixed his lethal shooting with sublime assists which helped the Lithuanian side stay ahead at the end of the third quarter, 68-57.
Zalgiris, which saw its 21-point lead slashed by a 10-0 Bayern run late in the third, responded ruthlessly early in the fourth with its own 11-0 streak which effectively killed the contest as the visiting team romped into an unassailable 79-57 advantage. Kaunas team finished the game increasing the lead to 28 points, 98-70.
