Zalgiris Kaunas (26-2) opened the fourth round of the Betsafe-LKL championship with an easy victory. Andrea Trinchieri’s team defeated M Basket-Delamode Mazeikiai (3-25) by 109-63 (31-20, 26-7, 32-12, 20-24) at Zalgirio Arena.
Alenas Smailagic scored Zalgiris’ first 3 points, while Ignas Brazdeikis dunked after a pass from Dovydas Buika and Matt Mitchell scored from mid-range to make it 7-7. Arnas Butkevicius and Ignas Brazdeikis hit a three-pointer each, Butkevicius made a long-two, Mitchell scored under the basket and Dovydas Giedraitis and Sylvain Francisco made three-pointers to increase the difference to 26-18. Mitchell made a nice mid-range jumper and Francisco closed the first period with 3 free throws, 31-20.
Edgaras Ulanovas made free throws, Mantas Laurencikas, who made his debut in the main team, connected on a three-pointer, and Laurynas Birutis stole the ball, 38-20. The opponents then scored 7 unanswered points (38-27), but were stuck in Zalgiris’ defense in the remaining 6 minutes of the second quarter. Birutis scored 8 more points, with three-pointers by Butkevicius, Brazdeikis and Buika coming in-between, 57-27.
Zalgiris’ offense didn’t slow down in the third period: Birutis, Giedraitis, Laurencikas, Buika scored inside, while Brazdeikis and Smailagic were accurate from distance to make it 76-32. Laurencikas added 4 more points, another debutant Ignas Stombergas opened his scoring account, Francisco hit a three-pointer, and Mitchell scored from mid-range, 89-39.
In the fourth quarter, Mitchell, Smailagic and Laurencikas made layups, and then Mitchell hit 3 three-pointers in a row, 104-55. The game was closed by Laurencikas and a 2+1by Stombergas, 109-63.
Mitchell had his best-scoring game of the season with 22 points. Birutis collected 14 points and 8 rebounds, while Laurencikas tallied 13 points in his debut.
