Zalgiris Kaunas picked up an important victory to get its campaign back on track by winning a back-and-forth thriller at Paris Basketball 108-105 on the road.
In a game with 19 lead changes, Paris led by 10 points in the second quarter and Zalgiris opened its own 10-point lead at 91-81. Paris answered with the next 10 points to even the game, and after Zalgiris surged ahead 102-95, Paris punched back with the next eight points for the first of four lead changes in the final 59 seconds, with Azuolas Tubelis’s running layup with 11 seconds winning the game.
Zalgiris improved to 9-6 after having lost four of its last five games, thanks to Sylvain Francisco collecting 26 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists, while Nigel Williams-Goss had 18 points and 10 assists. Laurynas Birutis and Tubelis both finished with 17 points.
Paris was playing its first home game since November 13 but dropped its fourth straight game for a 5-10 record and 3-5 at home. Nadir Hifi led Paris with 27 points, and Amath M’Baye scored a career high 23 points in the loss.
The guests were trailing for the most part of the first half, and were down 48-56 at halftime. Zalgiris took the third quarter 32-17 and that gave the visitors the push they needed.
