By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Almost exactly one month from their first encounter of the EuroLeague season – the second one with Sarunas Jasikevicius on the Turkish team, winning 80-78 -, Zalgiris Kaunas took down Fenerbahce with a 23-point deficit (98-75) at the Zalgirio Arena, trying to get close to the Play-Ins.
Keenan Evans dominated the scene with 21 points, 7 assists, and 5 fouls drawn, while Laurynas Birutis went close to a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds.
“We came out with the right mentality, we moved the ball well. Overall we did a pretty good job on defense”, he said after the win. Arnas Butkevicius returned to action for the first time since the EuroLeague Round 11 by scoring 9 points.
“I’m happy for my players, they needed a night like this. We had a great game from everybody, who was extremely important. I can name three big plays from every player tonight. We’re working on it every day”, Andrea Trinchieri shared in the post-game flash interview.
On the other side, Scottie Wilbekin continued to impress, ending with 22 points and 6 assists, shooting 5/11 from beyond the arc. The former Maccabi Tel Aviv guard and Johnathan Motley – who had 15 points with 9/11 at the charity stripe – were the only ones in double-digits for his team.
“Start the game like this is not serious, I hope we didn’t get tired of winning”, Sarunas Jasikevicius said after the defeat.
Keenan Evans ↔️ Kevarrius Hayes combine for the ✈️ and fans go CRAZY!@bczalgiris #FlightTime I @TurkishAirlines pic.twitter.com/U3ABsaWHkW
— Turkish Airlines EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) January 19, 2024
A dominant performance by Zalgiris
The Lithuanian home side started the game the right way, rapidly getting up 10-0 at 7:42 minutes on the clock, forcing first Fenerbahce‘s timeout of the night. At 4:41 on the clock, Johnathan Motley was the only scorer on the yellow-and-blue team, with 3/4 at the charity stripe.
Fenerbahce scored the first points from the field after 5:49 minutes with a two-pointer by Tyler Dorsey in traffic. Zalgiris Kaunas kept on rolling and reached the game-high 16-point lead (32-16) at 6:14 on the clock in the second quarter. Excluding a soft comeback attempt by Fener, Andrea Trinchieri’s team always had things in control after that.
In the EuroLeague Round 23, Fenerbahce (13-9) will come back home to host Virtus Bologna, the 3rd-seeded team in the standings, on January 25 at 18:45 CET; Zalgiris (8-14), instead, will play far from Kaunas, visiting Partizan Belgrade on January 26 at 20:30 CET.
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague