Zalgiris races from behind to beat VEF 0
Zalgiris Kaunas had to come from behind in the fourth quarter to battle the way to a 77:72 (20:18, 22:18, 12:28, 23:8) victory against VEF Riga in a Baltic Basketball League (BBL) Elite division on Saturday in Latvia.
Mantas Kalnietis led Zalgiris with 19 points, Dainius Salenga scored 14 while Adas Juskevicius and Mario Delas collected 10 each.
Taj McCullough scored 15 points to lead VEF, Sandis Valters had 14 as Ingus Bankevics collected 13. Lithuanian Arnas Labuckas and Alex Renfroe, with 13 assists and 7 rebounds, scored 10 points each.
The club from Kaunas had to do without Marcus Brown, Travis Watson, Aleksandar Capin and Martynas Pocius.
VEF Riga ran away in the third period when Zalgiris gave more court-time for the youth as the Latvians started the last quarter of the game still with a double-digit lead at 64:54.
However, Zalgiris rallied 10:0 and tied the game at 64:64, as VEF couldn’t get its offense going.
Adas Juskevicius and Arturas Milaknis points gave Zalgiris the much-needed breathing space as Zalgiris was already up 73:68.
Zalgiris was having a terrifying night from the free-throw line, making only 10-of-23 shots from the charity stripe.
The BBL runners-up from last year are currently in the first position of the standings with a 15-2 record, but have still lost one more game than main rivals Lietuvos Rytas. VEF, with a 7-9 record, lie in the sixth spot.
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