Brown’s buzzer-beater sees Zalgiris through to the Top 16 0
Marcus Brown hit a corner three at the buzzer to pass the six point margin of victory, which was needed to clinch Zalgiris a spot in the Euroleague Top 16. The team from Kaunas defeated Fenerbahce Ulker 76:68 on the road and guaranteed a place in the next round and took the third place in Group A with just three victories.
You can find the emotional photos from the game and after it in the locker room in our photo gallery.
Martynas Pocius had a team-leading 18 points as he hit 4 shots of 6 from beyond the arch and added 4 assists, Marcus Brown scored 17 points, got 5 rebounds, dished out 4 assists and was fouled 9 times.
Tadas Klimavicius collected 13 while Mantas Kalnietis had a nice game, going to the rim more often than before to finish with 11 points.
Fenerbahce Ulker’s Roko Leni Ukic had a game-high 20 points, but brought a lot of chaos into his team’s game. For better or for worse, he seemed to monopolize the ball control. Gordan Giricek added 16 for the Turkish side, Tarence Kinsey had 11 and Semih Erden finished with 8 points and 10 rebounds.
Zalgiris started the game strong and went ahead from the very beginning of the match, building the needed advantage after half-time.
Despite Gordan Giricek’s three-pointer, which brought the score within three points at 40:43, but Zalgiris answered with 7 unanswered points to find themselves with a double-digit lead – 50:40.
The visitors were playing very solid basketball and kept increasing the lead and Marcus Brown’s long-range shot gave Zalgiris a game-high 17 point lead with the score at 68:51.
Fenerbahce Ulker found themselves tightly squeezed in a corner in the fourth quarter and with time putting more and more pressure on the Turkish side.
Zalgiris’ advantage started to melt, as Fenerbahce Ulker relied mostly on new signing Roko Ukic offensively.
As the last half of a minute started, Zalgiris was in the lead by 8 points (73:65) and with the possession of the ball in their hands. However, things turned upside down as the players of the Lithuanian club turned the ball over with 9 seconds on the clock, where they shouldn’t have – simply on a regular pass.
Ukic was there for his team once again. He was fouled by Dainius Salenga while shooting a desperation three with 3,1 seconds remaining until the end of the game. The Croat hit all three free throw attempts and left Zalgiris with one last possession.
Zalgiris inbounded the court from the half-court line after a time out by coach Ramunas Butautas. Brown got the ball in the right flank of attack, right in the corner. Being surrounded by Fenerbahce Ulker players, the American faded back letting go of the ball, which swished right through the net.
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