Zalgiris beats AS Monaco to start the double-week 13

Zalgiris Kaunas recorded an important victory on Wednesday evening in its bid to reach the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs, as it defeated AS Monaco 79-70 in front of another sellout crowd at Zalgirio Arena.

This win improved Zalgiris to 16-15, yet it remains in ninth position in the standings as Baskonia Vitoria in eighth holds the tiebreaker. Monaco dropped to 20-11.

Ignas Brazdeikis led the way for Zalgiris with 22 points, while Laurynas Birutis and Arnas Butkevicius both had 10 points each. Isaiah Taylor and Tomas Dimsa contributed 9 points apiece, too.

For Monaco, Donatas Motiejunas and Jordan Loyd had a team-high 13 points each. Elie Okobo also reached double figures with 10 points.

Playing back in his hometown of Kaunas, Motiejunas started the game off hot and scored 9 of Monaco’s first 11 points as the visitors went 9-11 ahead. That was about as good as it got Monaco, though, as Zalgiris fought back through Butkevicius, who scored 5 points in a hurry to flip the script, 17-11. Monaco was lackadaisical with the ball and committed as many as 6 turnovers in the first quarter, while Zalgiris was shooting the lights out, going 6-of-7 from two-point range (85.7% 2FG) and 5-of-7 from deep (71.4% 3FG) en route to a 28-19 advantage after 10 minutes.

Monaco began the second quarter in the best way possible, with Okobo knocking down a three to make it 28-22, but the guard then committed his second foul – an unsportsmanlike foul at that – which sent Kevarrius Hayes to the line, 30-22. The visitors kept trying to eat into deficit bit by bit, enjoying several trips to the free-throw line, but an inspired Brazdeikis hit a three-pointer to keep Monaco at arm’s length, 37-28. Zalgiris, meanwhile, continued to find its way to the basket, with Dimsa scoring an uncontested layup to make it a 9-point ballgame, 48-39, just before the break. Monaco trailed 48-41 at halftime, but the gap perhaps should have been more as Zalgiris completely dominated.

Once the action resumed in the third quarter, buckets became slightly harder to come by, yet Zalgiris found a way to keep in front. In particular, the third quarter was determined by Birutis, as Zalgiris kept going to its big man against the undersized Donta Hall. Birutis had 2 points through the first 20 minutes, but he made his presence felt after the break to keep his side ahead, 56-49. It started to become a bit of a back-and-forth game in the latter stages of the quarter, 58-53, but a Lukas Lekavicius triple helped make it a 10-point affair, 63-53, soon after. Entering the last quarter, it was 65-53.

The final quarter saw Monaco raise its intensity on the defensive end in the opening minutes, with a Hall block leading to a Jaron Blossomgame three-pointer that cut the gap to 7 points, 65-58, but the visitors could not capitalize on free throws to trim the gap further. Birutis also kept causing damage for Zalgiris, taking his tally to 10 and making it a 10-point ballgame, 71-61, in the latter stages. Brazdeikis nailed a three-pointer to make it 74-61, and Zalgiris coasted to victory from there, going on to win 79-70.