By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Giorgi Shermadini scored 23 points with 9/10 shots in 21 minutes and grabbed five rebounds as Unicaja Malaga beat Rytas Vilnius 95 – 76 to capture its fifth win in a row in the 2018-2019 EuroCup and check a ticket to the next round.
Mathias Lessort, Shermadini’s frontline partner, was also close to unstoppable since he added 18 points with 8/8 from the field in the 19 minutes he spent on the floor. He had some key baskets at the beginning of the third quarter, a stretch that pretty much decided the final outcome.
Rytas was up 43 – 48 at halftime but Malaga made a complete turnaround with a 16 – 0 run at the beginning of the second half. The Spanish team closed the period with a 16-point advantage, 71 – 55 and never lost control of the game.
DJ Seeley was the top performer for Rytas with 15 points and four assists for a team-high 19 PIR.
Malaga is tied with Unics Kazan at the top. The latter prevailed 90 – 73 over Mornar Bar with Raymar Morgan scoring 22 points.
Uros Lukovic had a double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds for the losing squad that see their Top 16 hopes getting faded. Bobby Brown wasn’t on the active roster of the team.
On Tuesday (6/11), Erik Murphy torched Fiat Turin with 33 points (plus seven boards) to give Fraport Skyliners an 85 – 75 win on the road.
Group D Standings:
| Position | Team | % Victory | GP | GW | GL | PTS + | PTS – | GA |
| 1 | UNICS Kazan | 83.33 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 528 | 460 | 1.1478 |
| 2 | Unicaja Malaga | 83.33 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 541 | 489 | 1.1063 |
| 3 | Fraport Skyliners | 66.67 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 485 | 470 | 1.0319 |
| 4 | Rytas Vilnius | 50 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 468 | 471 | 0.9936 |
| 5 | Mornar Bar | 16.67 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 460 | 553 | 0.8318 |
| 6 | Fiat Torino | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 501 | 540 | 0.9277 |