Zalgiris Kaunas ruined Hapoel Tel Aviv’s return party by beating the Israeli side 93-80 in their first ever EuroLeague game at Menora Mivtachim Arena on Tuesday night.
The Lithuanian side got back to winning ways and improved their record to 11-8, while EuroLeague leader Hapoel dropped to 13-6.
Boosted by a hyped home crowd, Hapoel hit the ground running and secured a 18-25 lead after 10 minutes. Yet, Zalgiris held the hosts to 15 and 13 points in the second and third quarter respectively, taking a 63-53 cushion into the fourth thanks to a 13-2 run. Hapoel made a last push for a comeback, but Zalgiris outscored the league leader 30-27 to grab a stunning victory.
Nigel Williams-Goss paced Zalgiris with 17 points and Moses Wright netted 15, with Sylvain Francisco bagging 13 points and 8 assists and Azuolas Tubelis pairing his 12 points with 8 rebounds.
As for Hapoel, Chris Jones led all scorers with 18 points and Elijah Bryant ended the game on 14 points.
