Lietkabelis rallies late to edge Ulm

Lietkabelis Panevezys rallied late to edge visiting ratiopharm Ulm 86-84 for its first Top 16 win. The visitors led by 14 points on a couple of occasions in the third quarter, but Lietkabelis closed the gap with the help of a 9-0 run in the third and grabbed the lead for good with a 13-0 run in the fourth. With the victory, Lietkabelis improved to 1-1 in Group F, while Ulm dropped to 0-2. Mindaugas Lukauskis netted 21 points on 4-for-6 three-point shooting to lead the hosts, Ksistof Lavrinovic added 19 points, Ben Madgen scored 12 and Gintaras Leonavicius scored 11 in victory. Raymar Morgan had 27 points for Ulm, Augustine Rubit collected 18 points and 9 rebounds and Braydon Hobbs had 13 points with 7 assists in defeat.

Morgan had 8 points and Taylor Braun hit a three-pointer during an early 0-13 run that put Ulm in front 8-15. Lietkabelis had six different scorers in the first 10 minutes, but threes from Hobbs and Chris Babb opened a double-digit Ulm lead, 17-27 at the end of the first quarter. Morgan scored 7 more points, before threes from Bjoern Rohwer and Braun made it 26-40. Lietkabelis got things going with Lavrinovic nailing his first triple, which cut the deficit into single digits, 31-40. Lavrinovic hit another shot from downtown, and so did Lukauskis, but Braun, Hobbs and Babb made sure Ulm went into halftime up 41-53. Lukauskis and Lavrinovic hit 3 consecutive threes to open the third quarter. Hobbs and Morgan kept the margin at 50-60. Both offenses suddenly stalled, with neither team scoring a field goal for more than five minutes before Madgen hit from long range and Donatas Tarolis scored on a fast break to cut it to 58-62. The visitors carried a 4-point lead into the final quarter, and remained in front until Madgen's triple tied it at 68-68. Morgan scored 8 points for the visitors, but Lavrinovic's three-point play sparked a 13-0 run, capped by free throws from Zygimantas Skucas and Zygimantas Janavicius that gave Lietkabelis an 84-78 lead with 1:26 to go. Rubit and Braun quickly cut to within 84-82 and Ulm had a possession to win or send the game into overtime, but Babb missed a tough driving layup. It seemed that Lorenzo Williams sealed the deal from the foul line with 3 seconds to go, but Rubit made a quick basket after a timeout, and after another timeout, Karsten Tadda came up with a steal on a half-court inbound pass and launched a long off-balance three-pointer, but it did not hit the target as Lietkabelis prevailed.