Zalgiris returned to winning ways in the EuroLeague by downing FC Barcelona 88-73 at Palau Blaugrana in Round 6 on Thursday. Zalgiris improved to 4-2 in the standings while Barca dropped to 3-3.
Maodo Lo led the winners with 20 points on 5-of-5 three-point shooting. Deividas Sirvydis and Sylvain Francisco each added 14 while Moses Wright had 10 for Zalgiris.
Joel Parra led Barca with 17 points off the bench. Toko Shengelia added 13 while Tomas Satoransky had 11 for the hosts.
Nigel Williams-Goss scored the first 4 points of the game but suffered an injury and did not return to the court. Francisco hit a long two-pointer from the wing, and Lo added 8 points to build a 19-7 lead. Sirvydis closed the first quarter with 5 consecutive points, making it 26-14.
Sirvydis, Ignas Brazdeikis, and Lo all connected from downtown to extend the lead to 18 points at 38-20. Barcelona then raised their defensive intensity and responded with a 14-2 run to trim the deficit to 40-34. However, Francisco and Azuolas Tubelis combined for 8 points in the final minute of the second quarter to push the margin back to double digits at 52-39.
Francisco and Arnas Butkevicius opened the third quarter with steals, making it 60-41. Lo and Dustin Sleva were accurate from beyond the arc, and Zalgiris reached a record lead of 25 points at 73-48.
The hosts managed to narrow the gap to 77-63 midway through the fourth quarter, but Lo, with his fifth three-pointer, and Francisco, with his first two accurate shots from the outside, sealed the victory at 88-73.
