The third clash between arch rivals Lietuvos Rytas and Zalgiris finished with a big win for Vilnius side. Defending BBL champions hosted Zalgiris in Siemens Arena, the venue where they lose very rarely. Both teams had different results in Euroleague this week as well as throughout the season so far. However, at the start of the game it was Zalgiris that seemed to be better prepared.
Gintaras Krapikas, head coach of Zalgiris, told after the game that his plan worked only in the first half. The visitors controlled the game during the first quarter as built a 7 point lead. The second quarter was equal to both teams (19:19) as Rytas was unable to close the gap.
The first minutes of the third quarter showed that Rytas is not going to hand a win to their rivals easily. Rimas Kurtinaitis found a secret weapon in Aron Baynes who made several dunks to tie the game. From then on it was Rytas setting the rules of the game as they started increasing the lead. Even though Zalgiris tried to recover, they only managed to score 13 points in the third quarter.
Rytas did not slow down in the final period and once the lead reached double digits the winner seamed to be clear. A convincing win for Lietuvos Rytas 91-74.
91 – (18+19+27+27) – Lietuvos Rytas: Aron Baynes 15, Bojan Popovic 14, Milko Bjelica 14, Martynas Gecevicius 13, Stepas Babrauskas 11, Dejan Borovnjak 8, Donatas Zavackas 6.
74 – (25+19+13+17) – Zalgiris: Marcus Brown 15, Tadas Klimavicius 13, Travis Watson 12, Dainius Salenga 10, Martynas Pocius 9, Mantas Kalnietis 5, Zygimantas Janavicius 3, Sim-Sander Vene 3, Adas Juskevicius 2, Mirza Begic 2.
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