By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Zalgiris Kaunas grabbed a 75-67 win over a shorthanded Bayern Munich at home to register its second consecutive EuroLeague victory. Bayern tried to put up a fight on the road despite featuring a 10-man roster due to multiple injury issues.
Keenan Evans had a monstrous game for Zalgiris with a career-high 32 points, four rebounds, and four assists for a PIR of 39. Edgaras Ulanovas was the only other Zalgiris player in double figures with 18 points, but it was enough for the Lithuanian team to improve to an 8-7 score. Bayern fell to 5-10.
“We came to fight hard and follow our game plan. We had a couple of lapses and sloppy turnovers, but we knew the holidays were coming up, and we wanted to finish the right way to enjoy ourselves with our families. We pushed through and finished the game,” Evans said.
In the absence of captain Vladimir Lucic, Ognjen Jaramaz, Nick Weiler Babb, Andreas Obst, and Zan Mark Sisko, two players particularly stepped up for Bayern: Corey Walden with 18 points and Augustine Rubit with 17 led the way. They led the way for the Bavarian side while Cassius Winston and Niels Giffey added 10 points apiece.
Bayern fought bravely, but the hosts took control midway through the second period. With a 13-2 run, Zalgiris got to a 39-30 lead, and from there, they never looked back.
“It was like we expected, a physical game, and I’m happy that we had control almost the whole time. We lost some point difference at the end, but I want to stay positive. Congrats to Zalgiris fans, and Merry Christmas“, Kazys Makvytis said.
The team from Munich didn’t surrender and managed to trim the deficit to four points in the opening minutes of the third period, but that was it from the German squad. When Zalgiris took a 60-46 lead near the end of the third quarter, there was no turning back for Bayern.
The team from Kaunas maintained a double-digit advantage without much of a fuss. It was all over for the Bavarians when coach Andrea Trinchieri got ejected for his second technical foul in the fourth quarter. Still, they managed to get to a single-digit deficit in the final moments and improve the final impressions.
“Congrats to Zalgiris; they played with great energy from the beginning. We had problems guarding Evans and Ulanovas, but we fought until the end. It’s not easy to play here in this amazing atmosphere. We were missing players, but we were proud of our game. We were precise and found the way to play until the very end,” Bayern’s assistant coach Adriano Vertemati stated at the press conference.