Zalgiris Kaunas wrote its debut win against Montepaschi Siena, 65-80, on opening game of the Citta di Roma Tournament held on Sunday morning in Roma, Italy. This is the first of four qualifying tournaments leading towards to Nike International Junior Tournament to be held in Paris during the 2010 Final Four weekend. Zalgiris scored 31 points in the first quarter to take already then a double-digit lead, that reached already 20 early in the second quarter. Montepaschi cut the lead down to two points, but quickly saw Zalgiris disappears down the road, and secure the win. The first half exampled the team play of Zalgiris against a single player show on the other side as Montepaschi's Diego Monaldi was the only player on his team to score more than five points. He reached 17 already at the first half, while Zalgiris had five players with six points or more to take the upper hand. Monaldi finished the game with 23 points but low accuracy from the field. Five players scored in double-digits for Zalgiris led by Dovydas Redikas and Edgaras Ulanovas with 15 points each.

Zalgiris combined six points in a row mid-way in the first quarter to take a 10-18 lead. Later in the first came a 1-11 run capped by Redikas to set the gap early in the game on 14-29. Augustinas Jankaitis and the MVP of the U16 European Championship - Tauras Jogela, set the gap already on 20 after 13 minutes, 20-40, only to see Monaldi lead a Montepaschi run with 10 points in a row and just a 36-47 difference at the break. Zalgiris maintained the lead for eight more minutes until Giorgio Sgobba scored five points in a 9-0 run and cut the gap to only two points, 55-57, but the hit back arrived soon enough with a counter 0-11 run by Zalgiris that set the winner for the opening game.