Unicaja Malaga handed troubled Lithuanian side Zalgiris its second defeat in this season’s Euroleague, with an 85-78 victory in Spain.
Great Britain international Joel Freeland led Unicaja’s scoring with 21 points as the ACB side came from behind to register their first win of the competition.
Zalgiris, who currently don’t have a head coach after the sacking of Ilias Zouros held Malaga to just eight points in the second quarter as they led 39-30 at the half. The visitors even took a slender 52-49 lead after the third period, but Unicaja came roaring back to take the fourth period 19-13, leaving the score tied at 67 to force overtime.
Malaga held their nerve in the extra spell as Zalgiris looked physically drained.
“It has been a difficult game that we were almost obliged to win,” Unicaja coach Chus Mateo said.
“In the second quarter, we forced a lot of bad shots and made only three assists. We finished that quarter badly and Zalgiris took advantage.”
Despite their poor second quarter, coach Mateo was happy to see the team regroup and get the win: “What’s important is that the team has shown that it keeps playing like a team, it makes that effort.”
Zalgiris now drop to two defeats from two games after this latest loss. Sonny Weems led the way with 21 points. Ty Lawson, who has been under the spotlight over the last 48 hours over his comments made on Twitter about the team’s training methods scored seven points and pulled down nine rebounds.
