Valencia holds off Zalgiris for first road win

Valencia Basket hit 13 three-pointers on the way to its first road win of the season, holding off host Zalgiris Kaunas 82-86 on Friday at the Zalgirio Arena. Valencia's record improved to 5-8 while Zalgiris lost its seventh consecutive game and dropped to 3-10 at the bottom of the standings. Valencia took control of the game with a 2-15 run bridging the third and fourth quarters and led by as many as 13 points before Zalgiris made it late charge to no avail. Louis Labeyrie scored a career-high 22 points, nailing 4 of 5 three-pointers, while Quino Colom had 12 points and 9 assists for the winners. Edgaras Ulanovas finished with 16 points for Zalgiris. Thomas Walkup had 15 points, Jock Landale 12 and Zach LeDay 10 in a losing effort.

Labeyrie and Ulanovas scored 5 points apiece to get things going before Bojan Dubljevic scored twice inside and Colom nailed from long range to make it 7-12. LeDay revived the hosts, stringing together 6 points before Ulanovas capped an 8-0 run with a baseline dunk to make it 19-16 late in the first quarter. Sam Van Rossom replied with a triple, but Zalgiris extended the margin early in the second quarter as Arturas Milaknis struck from deep. Landale and Lukas Lekavicius combined to score 8 points then to open a 32-25 Zalgiris advantage. Maurice Ndour scored 7 consecutive points to keep Valencia in touch before back-to-back threes from Alberto Abalde and Colom cut the difference to 40-38. Another triple from Colom got the visitors within 48-47 at halftime. The teams traded leads as Aaron Doornekamp and Walkup downed triples early on, but Valencia just kept hitting from downtown. Labeyrie buried a pair and Van Rossom knocked one down to beat the shot clock and make it 55-59. Another triple from Doornekamp helped made it 57-64 going into the final quarter before close-range baskets from Mike Tobey and Ndour increased it to 57-68. Milaknis snapped a 2-15 Valencia run, but Vanja Marinkovic converted his triple into a four-point play, extending the Valencia lead to 59-72. Walkup and K.C. Rivers hit tough triples as Zalgiris stepped up on defense and LeDay's fastbreak dunk made it 70-75, firing up the crowd. Labeyrie's fourth triple gave Valencia more breathing room, however, at 70-78. Three-pointers from Rivers and Ulanovas got Zalgiris as close as 82-84 with 10 seconds left, but Valencia hung on at the finish.

Important stat

Zalgiris made 18 of 21 two-point attempts and had 6 offensive rebounds on 10 missed shots in the first half. However, in the second half Zalgiris made 10 of 20 two-point shots – and just 3 of 12 triples – while pulling down just 3 more offensive boards.

Labeyrie's night

Louis Labeyrie came into the game averaging 4.1 points per game and shooting 1-for-9 from three-point range through 12 games, but connected on 4 of 5 attempts in this game, dropping a career-high 22 points.

Big shooting night

Valencia hit 13 triples, and one shy of its EuroLeague club record on the road.

Next up

In Round 14 on Tuesday, both teams will be at home. Zalgiris will welcome league leaders Anadolu Efes Istanbul while Valencia will host fellow Spanish side KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz.