In a thriller that went down to the final second, Zalgiris Kaunas edged AS Monaco 63-62 (20-11, 14-14, 9-18, 20-19) at Zalgirio Arena in Round 7 on Friday.
Zalgiris leads the standings with a 6-1 record while Monaco dropped to 4-3. Arnas Butkevicius led the winners with 13 points, and Alen Smailagic scored all of his 10 points in the fourth quarter. Jordan Loyd led Monaco with 18 points and Mike James added 12.
Brady Manek got Zalgiris going with a three-pointer and Bryant Dunston dunked for a 5-2 lead. Donatas Motiejunas hit a jump hook, Dovydas Giedraitis answered with layup and Loyd tied it at 7-7. Matt Mitchell and Motiejunas traded baskets, Manek swished a turnaround jumper and Ignas Brazdeikis hit a mid-range shot to give Zalgiris a 13-9 lead. James buried a rainbow jumper, Laurynas Birutis matched that with his trademark jump hook and Brazdeikis's step-back triple made Monaco call a timeout at 19-11. Birutis pushed Zalgiris's lead even further, 20-11, after 10 minutes.
Jaron Blossomgame stepped up with a tip-in early in the second quarter and Elie Okobo soon brought Monaco within 20-15. Birutis followed a dunk in traffic with a layup and Alpha Diallo found his first points, but Edgaras Ulanovas struck from downtown to make it a double-digit game, 27-17. Giedraitis swished a six-meter jumper and Butkevicius bettered Okobo's finger-roll layup with a catch-and-shoot three-pointer, good for a 32-19 Zalgiris lead. Matthew Strazel answered from beyond the arc, Brazdeikis responded by hitting a mid-range jumper, but James kept the guests within 34-25 at halftime.
Blossomgame scored around the basket and Loyd added a fast-break layup to bring Monaco closer, 34-29, soon after the break. Alpha Diallo followed Motiejunas's layup with a dunk that capped a 0-12 Monaco run, 34-33. Butkevicius buried a three-pointer for Zalgiris, but James sank a mid-range jumper and Motiejunas hit a jump hook that tied it at 37-37. Butkevicius kept pacing Zalgiris with consecutive layups that restored a 41-39 edge. Vitto Brown banked in an off-balance shot and fed Georgios Papagiannis for a dunk to tie it at 43-43 after 30 minutes.
Smailagic buried a three-pointer early in the fourth quarter, then Loyd and James gave Monaco its first lead of the night, 46-47. Manek hit a triple off a Zalgiris timeout and Smailagic insisted from beyond the arc to give Zalgiris fresh ait at 52-47. Loyd scored off a mid-court steal, Butkevicius joined the three-point shootout and James's layup kept Monaco within 55-51. Ulanovas beat the shot clock with an off-balance circus shot that Loyd bettered with a three-pointers (Monaco's first after 16 missed attempts). Smailagic dunked, Blossomgame answered from downtown and Loyd added a floater that made Monaco regain a 59-60 lead with over 3 minutes left. Smailagic scored again, Loyd sank a jumper and Giedratis's coast-to-coast layup gave Zalgiris a 63-62 lead. Monaco got the basketball back with 15.3 seconds left. James turned the ball over on his team's final possession.
