Zalgiris Kaunas (12-1) started 2026 with a crushing victory in the Lithuanian Basketball League. Tomas Masiulis’s team defeated Neptunas Klaipeda (8-5) 112-77 (31-25, 32-6, 23-18, 26-28) at the Zalgirio Arena.
Mantas Rubstavicius opened the scoring for Zalgiris with a three-pointer, Moses Wright posted-up the opponent, and Arnas Butkevicius scored a two-pointer with a foul, 8-0. Laurynas Birutis made a layup, and then Deividas Sirvydis, Sylvain Francisco, and Ignas Brazdeikis each sank a three-pointer, 19-12. Sirvydis and Francisco got to the basket, Brazdeikis and Sirvydis hit three-pointers from different corners, and Francisco made another layup, 31-25.
Dustin Sleva made his free throws, Sirvydis scored with a foul (36-29), and then Zalgiris won the 6-minute stretch 20-0. It started with a three-pointer by Nigel Williams-Goss, Edgaras Ulanovas scored 5 points, Birutis added 4, and Maodo Lo connected twice from long range, 56-29. The second quarter ended with two more points from Sirvydis and Birutis, and a steal and dunk by Francisco, 63-31.
Azuolas Tubelis became the twelfth Zalgiris player to score points, Butkevicius lobbed the ball for Wright’s dunk and scored 6 points himself, 75-35. Tubelis and Wright made layups, Francisco hit a three-pointer from the corner, Birutis finished the attack with a dunk, and Sirvydis closed the third quarter, 86-49.
At the start of the fourth quarter, Birutis scored 5 points, and Sirvydis hit another three-pointer, 94-53. Ulanovas made free throws, and Rubstavicius scored Zalgiris’ 100th point with a three-pointer and a foul, 100-59. Birutis made free throws, Tubelis shot a three-pointer from the corner and finished a fast break with a dunk, Butkevicius was accurate from long range, and Sirvydis scored his 20th point, 112-77.
Sirvydis had his best scoring game of the season with 20 points. Butkevicius and Francisco added 12 points each in the win.
