By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After three competitive quarters, Zalgiris cruised to the 77-65 win by scoring 46 points in the second half against the Italians.
Milano was trailing by four points at the end of the third (54-50) but everything went Zalgiris‘ way after that. With a 10-3 run, the hosts got a double-digit lead (60-53) and everything was over after that. Milano could not get back into striking distance in the last five minutes of the game.
Aaron White (16 p.) and Paulius Jankunas (15 p.) led a balanced team effort, Brandon Davies also scored in double-digits (11 p.) and the guests just couldn’t stay competitive until the end, after keeping Zalgiris to just 31 points in the first half and having a three-point lead (34-31).
Against his former team, Arturas Gudaitis was impressive with 19 points, however the Lithuanian forward of Milano didn’t have much help. After all, the problem for the guests in the second half was their defense. Mindaugas Kuzminskas, the other Lithuanian forward of Milano, also scored 12 points.
On the contrary, Zalgiris dominated the boards with 42 rebounds against 28 by Milano, compensating the fact that they shot just 2/9 threes and missed 12 free throws (19/31).
Zalgiris with a 16-11 record is not yet qualified for the playoffs mathematically, but the chances of missing them are more than slim at this point. Milano was missing their third Lithuanian player, injured Mantas Kalnietis.
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