By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Two halves, two different stories in Kaunas. During the first, Zalgiris Kaunas held a relative control in the match vs Darussafaka Dogus but in the second, coach Blatt’s players stomped over their opponents to leave Lithuania with a 83 – 80 victory, their third in the competition.
It was Leo Westermann’s (26 points, 11 of them in the first half, plus 6 assists and 6 rebounds) action that had given Zalgiris a 35 – 26 advantage at halftime but a different story was about to be written after the two teams stepped on the floor again. Darussafaka players came back with a blast dropping one three-pointer after the other to finish the third quarter with a total number of seven downtown buckets and 35 (!) points scored while conceding 22.
Adrien Moerman (16 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists) and Scottie Wilbekin (16 points) delivered most of the damaged done to the hosts who found themselves trailing by nine, 56 – 63 at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Zalgiris came back, cutting its deficit to three, 70 – 73 with Paulius Jankunas (21 points, 11 rebounds) but Brad Wanamaker (14 points) dropped a key bucket from behind the arc and then Scott Wilbekin was perfect from the free throw line to keep his team safe and sound until the end.
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