By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Zalgiris Kaunas shocked Barcelona and beat the Catalans 88-92 on the road, with a tremendous performance during the entire game. For the visitors, this was their fifth win (5-4), whereas the hosts suffered their third defeat (6-3), with both teams having already qualified to the next phase.
For the winners, five players were in double digits, with Paulius Jankunas scoring 17 points. On the other hand, Ante Tomic was unstoppable for the losing squad, with 25 points, five rebounds and 38 in the ranking system, with an amazing 11 for 11 in two-pointers.
In the beginning, the match was close (8-10), however Zalgiris Kaunas executed perfectly on both ends of the floor and took a double-digit advantage, with a 4-15 run (12-25), as the first quarter ended with the visitors in front by 11 points (16-27). The situation didn’t change much later, as the Lithuanians managed to retain their lead (20-33, 28-39), with Barcelona being only capable of cutting the deficit to seven points at the end of the first half (38-45).
In the second half, Zalgiris was easily retaining a six to eight-point advantage (40-48, 48-54), however the hosts enhanced their performance both offensively and defensively and cut the deficit to one pont (63-64), with consecutive points from Stratos Perperoglou. The visitors, responded, though, made a 6-0 run and had a seven-point advantage after 30 minutes in the game (63-70). In the last quarter, the situation became worse for the Spaniards, who saw the Lithuanians extending their lead to double digits again (64-74, 71-82). Despite the hosts’ effort to make a big come-back, though, (80-86) Zalgiris remained solid, comfortably retained the lead (84-90) and earned a big victory, which brings them in a position of strength for claiming the third place in group C.