Zalgiris Kaunas lost the first game of the Gloria Cup tournament to Tofas Bursa team 74-78 (21-21, 17-28, 15-11, 21-18).
Edgaras Ulanovas scored the first points for Zalgiris, Mantas Rubstavicius made a free throw, Dominykas Daubaris converted Nigel Williams-Goss’s pass into a dunk on a fast break, and Williams-Goss himself sank a three-pointer, 8-4. Ulanovas made a two-pointer with a foul, and Daubaris corrected his own shot, 13-6. After the opponents tied the score (13-13), Arnas Butkevicius connected from long range, and on the next possession, he found Ignas Brazdeikis under the basket, 18-16. Williams-Goss made his second three-pointer at the end of the first period, 21-21.
At the start of the second quarter, Dovydas Buika set up Moses Wright for a dunk, with Brazdeikis adding a two-pointer, 25-24. After scoring 7 unanswered points from Tofas, Tomas Masiulis was forced to call a timeout, after which Wright made his free throws, Kajus Mikalauskas scored on a fast break, and Williams-Goss fed Ignas Stombergas twice for the dunks, 33-33. Unfortunately, in the remaining 4 minutes of the second quarter, only Brazdeikis scored 5 points, 38-49.
In the first five minutes of the third quarter, only Wright scored six points for Zalgiris, 44-53. Brazdeikis added 3 points, Nedas Raupelis made a putback, 49-57. Wright broke through under the basket once again, and Buika converted free throws, 53-60.
Rubstavicius played actively and tallied 3 points from free throws, while Wright added 4 points, 60-65. However, for the next 4 minutes, only Tofas players were scoring, 60-72. Brazdeikis broke the drought with a free throw, Dustin Sleva made a two-pointer, Brazdeikis scored from under the basket, and Ulanovas cut the difference with a three-pointer with a foul, 69-72. Sleva made two free throws, Rubstavicius scored from long range, but Zalgiris’ fouling tactics went unsuccessful, 74-78.
Wright was leading Zalgiris with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Brazdeikis added 15 points.
