By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Josh Nebo powered Zalgiris to the 91-66 victory against Lietkabelis. The former Texas A&M center Josh Nebo banked in a career-high 25 points in the Citadele KMT final Sunday evening.
Nebo, 24, made 11 of his 12 shots to dominate the last game of the King Mindaugas Cup Final Four. Back-to-back Final Four MVP Joffrey Lauvergne put up 19 points and pulled down a game-high eight rebounds. Edgaras Ulanovas added 13 more points wrapping up the double-digit scoring pack for the team coached by Jure Zdovc. Niels Giffey and Lukas Lekavicius threw in eight more points each.
For the team led by Serbian playcaller Nenad Canak, Vytenis Lipkevicius ended up with 14 points, Kaspars Berzins had 13 points, Gabrielius Maldunas tallied 11 points, and Panagiotis Kalaitzakis recorded ten points. The team based in Panevezys made it three unsuccessful efforts versus Zalgiris in the Lithuanian cup final after 2017 and 2021.
Controlling the contest, the Kaunas club led in double-digits most of the way with the advantage peaking at 31 points in the fourth quarter.
In the third-place game, Rytas edged Siauliai-7bet, 76-71. Mindaugas Girdziunas paved the way with a game-high 23 points. Former Marshall standout Jon Elmore had 21 points for the losing side.
In addition, Latvian Rihards Kuksiks, swingman of Nevezis-OPTIBET, was crowned the winner of the Three-Point Contest held in between the championship and third-place games.
Opening the Final Four schedule on Saturday, Zalgiris went past Siauliai and Lietkabelis beat Rytas in the semifinals matchups.
Photo Credit: BC Zalgiris Kaunas Twitter