By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
When Virtus got the lead in the last period, everyone believed that the home team would prevail, but the story was different.
Zalgiris Kaunas closed the game the right way and got the 71-68 win in Bologna, jumping to a 2-1 record in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, while the Italians dropped to 0-3.
Dovydas Giedraitis, with 15 points, Sylvain Fransisco, with 11, and Edgaras Ulanovas, with 10, were the top scorers on the winning side.
Virtus, despite playing at home shot just 6/24 threes and got 16 points by Will Clyburn. The duo of Toko Shengelia and Alessandro Pajola added 11 points each and Isaia Cordinier had 10, which simply were not enough.
Luca Banchi expressed his frustration in the post-game press conference. “It’s hard to comment. We were ready to compete and raise up the level of our intensity. It was a tight game, where in the end you can score or miss a shot. It’s tough to comment with referee decisions that can affect so much”, he said.
Lithuanian resilience
Zalgiris closed the first period with the first basket of Fransisco, leading by one point (16-15) and setting the early tone.
However, they continued even better, getting to a 30-24 lead and closing the first half up by 14 (44-30) thanks to a 6-0 run in the last minute.
Everyone expected the reaction of Virtus, but it was not enough. Twice the home team trimmed the lead to five points, but Zalgiris was up by eight (60-52) at the end of the third after a three by Deividas Sirvydis.
Virtus didn’t give up and got the 63-62 lead after two free throws by Shengelia with less than five minutes left.
And then Zalgiris reacted with an 8-2 run (70-65) that proved to be enough. In the last 108 seconds of the game the score was 3-1 for Virtus and Zalgiris got the win.
Photo credit: EuroLeague