Zalgiris Kaunas (12-13) ended its three-game losing slide in the EuroLeague with a win at Zalgirio Arena. The hosts opened the last double-round week of the season in style, as they led from start to finish, grabbing a well-earned 73-53 (25-12, 12-10, 18-15, 18-16) victory against ALBA Berlin (4-21).
Ignas Brazdeikis led all scorers with a season-high 21 points and Edgaras Ulanovas netted 10.
For ALBA, Matteo Spagnolo, Matt Thomas and Yanni Wetzell scored 10 points each, with the latter completing a double-double by collecting 10 rebounds.
Brazdeikis opened the scoring from deep before an easy bucket by Laurynas Birutis and a triple from Arnas Butkevicius gave Zalgiris an 8-4 lead. Brazdeikis took his tally to 10 early points, including a floater that extended his team’s lead to 17-8. Four points off the bench from Lonnie Walker were followed by a dunk from Wetzell, but Bryant Dunston and Ulanovas scored inside for a 25-12 cushion after 10 minutes.
No field goal was scored by either team in the first 2 and a half minutes of the second quarter before a basket from Spagnolo made it 27-14. Lukas Lekavicius replied with a three-point play, but buckets from Spagnolo and David McCormack trimmed the deficit to 30-20. Dunston dunked and Matthew Mitchell made 2 from the line for a 37-22 lead at halftime.
Ulanovas opened the third quarter with a step-back three before a couple of free throws by Brazdeikis extended Zalgiris’ lead to 42-24. Thomas finally drilled a triple after 16 failed attempts by ALBA, with Will McDowell-White converting a three-point play to bring the visitors within 42-32. Yet, Dunston ended ALBA’s 0-8 run with a three-point play of his own before netting again inside for a 47-34 cushion. Thomas connected again from downtown, but Mitchell and Walker made 3 free throws apiece for a 55-37 lead heading into the last quarter.
Spagnolo made 2 from the charity stripe before setting up Wetzell, who netted inside to make it 55-41. But Zalgiris responded with a 10-4 run including triples by Ulanovas and Sylvain Francisco to practically finish the game off.
