Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius collected its first victory at the ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT by fending off CSKA Moscow 75-69 to improve to 1-2 and take third place in Group B in Kaunas. Jokubas Svambaris scored 18 points while Mantvydas Staniulis collected 16 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. Martynas Maskolaitis added 13 points as Lietuvos Rytas watched a 23-point fourth quarter lead melt to just six points. Alexander Kurbatov poured in 29 points and Daniil Trostin scored 16 points as CSKA Moscow dropped to 0-3 in the group.

Arnas Berucka opened the game with a free throw and Kurbatov got CSKA Moscow on the scoreboard with a three-pointer for a 1-3 lead. Maskolaitis evened the game and Trostin knotted it at 5-5 after a Svambaris score. Maskolaitis and Staniulis were the main two weapons for Lietuvos Rytas in the first quarter as Maskolaitis hit a three-point play and a basket to open a 12-5 lead. Kurbatov’s triple trimmed it to 12-10 but Staniulis punched back with a three-ball of his own. He added two more scores to put Lietuvos Rytas ahead 19-14 after 10 minutes with Stanilius having scored nine points and Maskolaitis hitting for seven. Mikhail Andrianov’s free throw got the scoreboard going in the second quarter and he added a three-pointer and another basket to get CSKA Moscow to within 21-20. Svambaris responded with eight points in a 10-0 run for Lietuvos Rytas and a 31-20 lead. Kurbatov’s putback, free throws and basket got the Russian side to within 33-27. But Svambaris nailed a three-ball just before the half-time buzzer for a 36-27 advantage at intermission.

Kurbatov’s three to start the second half made it 36-30 but Maskolaitis started a 7-0 run to establish a 13-point lead. Another Kurbatov three-ball got the gap to 45-35 for CSKA. Lietuvos Rytas used its teamwork as five players scored in a 12-2 run, including a three-ball by Mantas Pigaga for a 57-47 advantage. The lead was 57-39 after 30 minutes. Pigaga continued his strong spell with the first basket of the fourth quarter and a three-pointer to extend the advantage to 62-39. And a steal and dunk by Grantas Vasiliauskas made it 66-43 with 7:20 minutes to play. Trostin and Kurbatov would not let CSKA Moscow go down without a fight as Trostin scored seven straight points and Kurbatov nailed a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 66-53. Vasiliauskas stopped the run with two free throws but Kurbatov hit another three-ball and completed a three-point play to pull within 72-61 with 2:43 minutes to play. Staniulis hit a big three-ball to slow CSKA but Trostin answered with a three-pointer of his own and added two more free throws before a Kurbatov trey had the Russian team within 75-69 with 23 seconds left. Staniulis turned the ball over but Andrianov missed a three-ball with four seconds left that would have made it a one-possession game.