Zalgiris Kaunas (15-18) played the last home game of the EuroLeague regular season. Andrea Trinchieri’s team beat Partizan Belgrade (16-17) by 70-66 (24-21, 11-19, 14-9, 21-17) in a packed Zalgirio Arena.

Sylvain Francisco paced Zalgiris on a team high 15 points and Partizan’s former big man Alen Smailagic chipped in with 14, with the duo instrumental at both ends in a strength-sapping finish when baskets were extremely difficult to come by.

At the other end, Carlik Jones led Partizan on a game high 23 points, including 16 in a blistering first half. Brandon Davies added 10 points and 6 boards for Partizan.

Zalgiris took full advantage of big man Tyrique Jones’ absence from Partizan’s ranks to dominate inside early on, racing into a 6-0 lead before Jones took over and started pulling the strings for the visitors.

Having shot 5 of 5 from inside, the hosts engineered a 24-21 advantage at the end of the first quarter but Partizan ramped up its defense in the second. The Serbian team turned the tide with a 0-10 run and took a commanding 31-39 lead before Zalgiris closed the gap to 35-40 at the interval, setting the stage for a titanic second-half tussle.

A slow start in the third quarter cost Partizan again as Zalgiris netted 8 points without reply and kept the visitors scoreless for more than 5 minutes, with Aleksej Pokusevski ending the drought with a pair of free throws followed by a three-pointer.

The rivals were all square, 49-49, heading into the final 10 minutes and the contest which resembled a wrestling match was clearly headed for a dramatic climax, as Partizan nosed ahead 59-62 with the home straight around the corner.

Zalgiris then forced the final twist with a 7-0 run which gave the home team a 66-62 lead on the back of a Francisco three-pointer and the guard sank a tough floater soon after to make it 68-64.

Isaac Bonga kept Partizan afloat with a pair of free throws but Smailagic delivered the killer blow at the other end to delight the home fans in the Zalgirio Arena and force his former club into submission.