Zalgiris Kaunas (4-2) suffered the second defeat in the Betsafe-LKL Championship. The team coached by Tautvydas Sabonis, who replaced the ill Andrea Trinchieri, lost to Wolves Twinsbet Vilnius (3-3) by 82-100 (20-20, 18-23, 14-32, 30-25) on the road.
Deividas Sirvydis scored the first points of the game, while Laurynas Birutis and Edgaras Ulanovas added four and five points respectively, 11-8. Ignas Brazdeikis scored despite a foul, Brady Manek and Sylvain Francisco made free throws, and Arnas Butkevicius finished a fast break with a layup, 20-20.
At the beginning of the second quarter, Edgaras Ulanovas hit Zalgiris’ first three-pointer, and Francisco scored under the basket (25-24), but then Zalgiris allowed opponents’ 8-point run and trailed 25-32. Manek scored five points in a row, Ulanovas hit a three-pointer, Francisco added 2+1, and Alen Smailagic made no mistakes from the free-throw line, 38-43.
Brazdeikis hit a free throw for a technical foul, Manek made a three-pointer from the corner, Bryant Dunston dunked, Francisco made 4 of 5 free throws, 48-52. Then Zalgiris fell into a deep hole, missed several shots from under the basket and allowed a 0-17 run, 48-69. Smailagic and Butkevicius broke the scoring deadlock, but the deficit grew even bigger, 52-75.
Francisco broke through under the basket, Butkevicius scored from long range and assisted Manek on a fast break, while Francisco added 11 more points to cut the deficit to 72-80. Smailagic scored 6 points and Sirvydis made a three-pointer, but Zalgiris had to take home the loss, 82-100.
Francisco collected 25 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists in the loss. Smailagic and Manek contributed 12 points each, while Ulanovas scored 11 points.
