Zalgiris Kaunas send a message that echoed all around the EuroLeague by downing last season’s finalist AS Monaco 89-84 at Salle Gaston Medecin on Wednesday.
Moses Wright led the winners with 21 points on 8-of-8 shooting and a PIR of 28. Nigel Williams-Goss added 14 points, Maodo Lo had 11 while Laurynas Birutis got 10 for Zalgiris.
Mike James led Monaco with 24 points. Daniel Theis added 17, Nikola Mirotic 16 and Alpha Diallo 10.
Birutis responded to James’s opening basket with a reverse layup, and Williams-Goss followed with a jumper to give Zalgiris its first lead, 4-2. Diallo answered with four quick points to put Monaco ahead, 4-6. Dustin Sleva hit from deep and Birutis added a layup during a 6-0 run that restored Zalgiris’s lead, 10-6. Theis scored back-to-back layups, but Lo and Sylvain Francisco each knocked down a three-pointer to extend Zalgiris’s advantage to 18-10. Theis and Wright traded layups, Mirotic converted a signature backdoor finish, and Azuolas Tubelis nailed a three to push the visitors ahead, 23-16. Wright matched James’s layup with a close-range finish, Williams-Goss hit another jumper, and Jaron Blossomgame’s emphatic put-back slam brought Monaco within 27-20 at the end of the first quarter.
Strazel banked in an off-balanced shot early in the second quarter. Ignas Brazdeikis responded with a three-pointer, and Lo’s driving layup gave Zalgiris its first double-digit lead, 32-22. Elie Okobo tried to shift the momentum with a layup, and Nemanja Nedovic added a fast-break finish that forced Zalgiris to call timeout at 32-26. The visitors leaned on an unstoppable Wright, who scored with a tip-in, erased Theis’s dunk with a powerful put-back slam, and threw down another dunk to singlehandedly restore a 38-30 Zalgiris lead. Francisco hit a three-pointer, matched moments later by James at the other end. Deividas Sirvydis found Tubelis for a reverse layup, which James answered with a driving basket. Francisco then beat the buzzer with a jumper, giving his team a 45-35 lead at halftime.
Diallo opened the second half with a spin move finish, and James followed Birutis’s layup with a deep three-pointer. Birutis capped a three-shot Zalgiris possession with a tip-in, then Williams-Goss went coast-to-coast for a layup that stretched the lead to 51-40. Sleva knocked down a catch-and-shoot three from the top of the key, Mirotic scored inside, and Theis answered Edgaras Ulanovas’s jump hook with a layup to make it 56-44. Mirotic continued to lead Monaco’s offense, and Theis added a tough layup, but Lo and Arnas Butkevicius kept Zalgiris firmly in control, 61-48. Wright responded to James’s layup with a jumper, then Okobo hit a three and drove to the basket to cut the deficit to 63-. Okobo added a jumper before Lo and Theis traded three-pointers, closing the third quarter at 67-60.
Wright took charge with an off-balance layup early in the fourth quarter, soon extending his team’s lead to 71-62. Mirotic responded with a three-pointer and a backdoor layup, giving Monaco hope at 71-67. Wright came to Zalgiris’s rescue with a triple and two free throws, followed by a three-pointer from Williams-Goss that forced Monaco to call a timeout at 79-67. James stepped up for the hosts, and Blossomgame powered through for a layup to cut the deficit to 79-71. Tubelis quieted the crowd with a put-back layup after a Zalgiris timeout, then Williams-Goss added another deep three and a floater. Monaco wasn’t finished—Mirotic scored five points, and Diallo and James delivered highlight-reel poster dunks during an 11–0 run that brought the hosts within 88-84 with 50 seconds remaining. Lo split a pair of free throws, and after James missed from beyond the arc, Zalgiris was able to celebrate a prestigious road win.
