Lietuvos Rytas, Pinar Karsiyaka play to draw

Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius and Pinar Karsiyaka Izmir tied 81-81 in the first leg of their two-game total points Eurocup Eighthfinals series on Wednesday in the Lithuanian capital. In a thrilling finish, Kenny Gabriel’s dunk tied the score with 18 seconds left. Then the hosts missed twice in an attempt to win the game. Martynas Gecevicius was a main contributor for Rrytas with 19 points, Gediminas Orelik added 18 with 8 boards, Antanas Kavaliauskas scored 14 and Mindaugas Lukauskis had 10. Bobby Dixon tallied 20 points and 7 assists for Karsiyaka, Jon Diebler bagged 16, DJ Strawberry 14 and Kenny Gabriel netted 11.

Lietuvos Rytas started on fire to take a 15-10 advantage at the midway point of the first quarter on a three-pointer by Orelik. The visitors answered through Juan Palacios and Gabriel to get within 20-16, before a 10-2 run by the home team and highlighted by 5 points bagged from Gecevicius made it 30-18. Gabriel dunked the ball and the guests cut the difference to 30-21 after 10 minutes. Dixon and Soner Senturk pushed Karsiyaka within 33-28, but a huge dunk by Mike Moser excited the crowd while a break completed by Zygimantas Janavicius re-established a double digit margin, 39-28. DJ Strawberry kept the visitors close by completing a three-point-play and finishing a penetration, but Kavaliauskas was unstoppable in the paint to make it 43-33 with two minutes left to halftime. The teams exchanged free throws, before Diebler from long distance made it 45-40 and a triple posted by Gecevicius fixed a 49-40 margin for Rytas at the break.

The teams exchanged baskets early in the third quarter. Kavaliauskas raised the cushion to 51-42. Ksistof Lavrinovic made it 56-46 with a slam and free throw, before Dixon and Gabriel connected to get within 56-52. Dixon hit from downtown to tie the game at 58-58. Diebler scored twice from the foul line to complete a 2-14-2 run for a 58-60 Karsiyaka lead. The lead changed hands several times in the last two minutes of the quarter with Dixon beating the buzzer from mid-range to tie it at 67-67. Cemal Nalga gave a 67-71 margin to the visiting team early in the last quarter, then 10 unanswered points by the hosts, 4 of them netted by Kavaiauskas, gave them a 77-71 cushion. With 66 seconds left, Gecevicius made it 81-77 from the foul line, but Gabriel with a layup and a huge dunk tied at 81 with 18 seconds remaining on the game clock, before Janavicius and Mindaugas Lukauskis missed potential shots to win the game.