Zalgiris Kaunas (8-6) recorded another EuroLeague victory at Zalgirio Arena. Andrea Trinchieri’s team beat Anadolu Efes Istanbul (7-7) by 85-72 (27-17, 21-13, 15-23, 22-19).

Lonnie Walker IV paced the winners with 18 points. Sylvain Francisco added 16 and Deividas Sirvydis had 14 for Zalgiris.

Elijah Bryant led Efes with 23 points and Darius Thompson added 10 for the visitors.

Sirvydis got Zalgiris going with a wild four-point play and Walker IV improved on Vincent Poirier’s alley-oop slam with a triple for a 7-2 lead. Bryant followed Thompson’s layup with a bomb from downtown to tie it at 7-7, Walker struck twice from beyond the arc and fed Sirvydis for a fastbreak layup, which prompted Efes to call timeout at 15-7. Sirvydis soon hit a triple that made it a double-digit game, 18-8. Ercan Osmani joined the three-point shootout before Walker IV buried a mid-range shot. Thompson’s layup gave Efes hope at 20-13. Walker IV kept pacing Zalgiris and Mike Mitchell hit a fadeaway jumper for a 25-15 Zalgiris lead. Bryant and Arnas Butkevicius traded free throws to fix the score at 27-17 after 10 minutes.

Dovydas Giedraitis scored around the basket early in the second quarter. Ridval Oncel answered with a layup that Butkevicius bettered with a corner triple for a 32-19 Zalgiris lead. Bryant Dunston took over with a put-back layup and Ignas Brazdeikis added a jumper in a 12-0 run that Francisco capped with a three-pointer, which caused Efes to stop the game at 41-19. Dan Oturu and Derek Willis stepped up for Efes, but Walker sank another jumper and Alen Smailagic’s layup made it 45-24. Bryant swished a mid-range jumper and soon added a three-pointer to bring Efes closer. Brady Manek’s three-pointer established a 48-30 Zalgiris cushion at halftime.

Sirvydis took over with a backdoor layup soon after the break. Poirier answered with a three-point play and matched Giedraitis’ running floater with a two-handed dunk. After Sirvydis beat the shot clock with a wild step-back triple, Bryant buried a jumper and added free throws to bring Efes closer, 57-39. Rodrigue Beaubois and Willis each struck from beyond the arc to give the visitors hope at 59-44. Francisco buried a fallaway jumper that Bryant erased with a floater. Thompson struck from downtown and Oturu added a hard-fought put-back layup to make it 63-53 through three quarters.

Beaubois bettered Edgaras Ulanovas’ layup with a three-pointer that brought Efes within single digits, 65-56. Ulanovas kept pushing Zalgiris with a big basket in the low post, then Walker boosted the hosts’ lead to 69-56. Bryant took over with a highly-contested jumper and Thompson struck from downtown, which prompted Zalgiris to call timeout at 69-61 with over 6 minutes left. Oturu scored down low, Laurynas Birutis dunked and Francisco gave Zalgiris fresh air at 73-63. After Willis sank a baseline jumper, Francisco buried a fadeaway shot. Bryant brought Efes within 75-67 with 2:28 left. Francisco stepped up in crunch time to seal the outcome, 80-69, in the next-to-last minute.