Zalgiris Kaunas lifted Lithuania’s King Mindaugas Cup for the seventh straight year on Sunday by blasting archrival Rytas Vilnius 101-85 in the final at Siauliai Arena.
Moses Wright rocked the paint with 27 points to be named MVP of the final and Sylvain Francisco paired 23 points with 10 assists to lead the winners. Azuolas Tubelis added 14 points on 17 minutes.
Ignas Sargiunas paced Rytas with 16 points and Kenneth Smith tallied 15 points and 6 assists in defeat.
Neither team led by more than 4 points in the first quarter, which ended with Zalgiris up 25-21. Francisco drained a pair of threes and Wright dunked twice in a 15-0 run as Zalgiris pulled away to 52-32 in the second quarter. Zalgiris totaled 37 second-quarter points to grab a 62-37 halftime lead.
Rytas came out for the second half to make a push and reeled off 13 straight points – led by Smith and Jerrick Harding – to get within 64-50. Francisco and Wright revived the Zalgiris attack to push the margin back to the 20s and it was 84-64 at the end of the third quarter.
Little changed in the fourth quarter as Rytas managed to chip away at the deficit to make the final score more respectable, but the outcome was never in doubt and the Zalgiris faithful started celebrating long before the final buzzer.
