Zalgiris takes home a confident victory from Utena 9

Zalgiris Kaunas (2-0) recorded the second victory in the Betsafe-LKL championship. Lithuanian champions defeated Uniclub Casino – Juventus Utena (1-1) on Thursday, 79-69.

Zalgiris missed good shots early in the game, as only Edgaras Ulanovas and Kevarrius Hayes scored in the first 6 minutes, 5-11. Brady Manek came off the bench and immediately opened up from long range, Laurynas Birutis made a put-back dunk and Dovydas Giedraitis stole the ball to make it 12-11. At the end of the quarter, Arnas Butkevicius and Keenan Evans scored from the free-throw line, 15-17.

The second period started similarly to the first, with a three-pointer by Danielius Lavrinovicius and a Lukas Lekavicius drive to the left, but the hosts led 20-25. After a timeout by Kazys Maksvytis, Tomas Dimsa and Hayes made aggressive plays, Rolands Smits, Dimsa and Naz Mitrou-Long burst with three-pointers, and Ulanovas added a two to make the score 35-27. After Utena got closer (35-34), Manek scored 4 points and Lekaviucius finished the first half, 41-36.

Ulanovas scored from under the basket, Dimsa hit 2 three-pointers, Butkevicius did a great job defensively and added 5 points, as Zalgiris pulled away 54-39. Evans, Butkevicius and Ulanovas scored after cutting to the basket (60-43), followed by Ulanovas, Manek, Lekavicius and Birutis free-throws, 66-50.

In the fourth quarter, Zalgiris did not let their opponents score for 4 minutes, and on the other side of the court Butkevicius and Smits delivered 5 points each, 78-52. Then Zalgiris was “dry” for 5 minutes and lost the sequence 0-17, but their lead was big enough to take the victory away from Utena, 79-69.

All twelve players scored for Zalgiris, with Butkevicius (13), Dimsa (11), Ulanovas (11) and Manek (10 finishing in double-digits.