Big second half start carries Zalgiris to opening win

Two-time past champion U18 Zalgiris Kaunas started the second half with a 0-18 run to open its Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Istanbul with a 69-84 victory over U18 Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul. Dominykas Butka had 15 points as top scorer for the 2003 and 2007 continental title winner in the Group B game. Ugnius Jarusevicius chipped in 12 points and Dovydas Butka, Motiejus Krivas and Liutauras Lelevicius all added 11 points. Fenerbahce was led by Yusuf Bayrak with 15 points, Sayhan Yetkin scored 13 points and Berkay Yilmaz chipped in 12 points in the defeat.

The Butka twins scored Zalgiris’ first eight points for a 6-8 lead. Fenerbahce came back with the next five points to go up 11-8, but Zalgiris kept the Turkish side scoreless for the final 4:40 minutes of the first quarter and Krivas had five points in a 0-10 run for an 11-18 advantage. Lelevicius and Dominykas Butka both had three-point plays as the cushion grew to 13-24 and Jarusevicius made it 17-28. Bayrak and Yetkin both hit three-pointers as Fenerbahce countered with a 10-1 surge to cut the deficit to 27-29. Zalgiris withstood the attack and led 29-33 at intermission.

Zalgiris blew the game open at the start of the second half with a 0-18 run as Jarusevicius completed a three-point play and Titas Sargiunas nailed a triple in building a 29-51 lead. Emilis Bartninkas extended it to 31-56 and Zalgiris was leading 39-65 after 30 minutes. Zalgiris was still comfortably ahead 52-76 with 5 minutes left in the game. Fenerbahce put together a 15-3 run to pull within 67-79, but there was only 96 seconds remaining and Zalgiris held on for the win.