2018-19Regular SeasonRound 6
November 09, 2018 CET: 19:00
Local time: 19:00 MORACA

Zalgiris defeats Buducnost to stay perfect on the road

Zalgiris Kaunas maintained its perfect record on the road with a battling 60-72 victory at Buducnost VOLI Podgorica, improving the Lithuanians to 3-3 while Buducnost remains in search of its first win. On a night which saw both teams struggle offensively, Brandon Davies shone for the victorious team, scoring 20 points and grabbing 5 rebounds. Antanas Kavaliauskas provided 12 points and 5 boards, while Nate Wolters combined 10 points with 6 assists. Only one Buducnost player scored in double figures, with Alen Omic netting 16 points and grabbing 6 rebounds.

Big men were in the main roles on both ends of the floor early on. Paulius Jankunas had a three-point play and Davies a pair of dunks to open a 7-11 lead. Omic and Earl Clark scored first the 8 points for Buducnost, before a triple from Edwin Jackson cut the deficit to 11-14. Jankunas and another big man, Kavaliauskas, made sure Zalgiris held a 15-18 edge after 10 minutes, before Marius Grigonis hit from downtown early in the second quarter to open it to 17-23. However, Omic and Nemanja Gordic, who hit one from behind the arc, helped the hosts tie things at 27-27 with 3 minutes left in the half, and the teams went into halftime locked at 33-33. Buducnost took its first lead of the game with a layup by Omic, 38-36, but the visitors replied with a 2-9 run as Wolters scored 5 points, Davies made a steal and dunk and Aaron White threw down an alley-oop. A low-scoring end to the third quarter saw Zalgiris extend its lead through a series of free throws, and the margin stayed around ten points for much of the final period as both teams failed to find offensive fluidity. Davies scored twice in quick succession in response to a triple from Coty Clarke, and then netted again after Nikola Ivanovic struck from deep. The home team never got closer than 8 and the game had a fitting finish with another basket from Davies as Zalgiris eased home.

Davies shows up in crunch time

Zalgiris was able to fend off Buducnost’s attempts to come back in the fourth quarter mainly thanks to solid defense and an outstanding Davies, who netted 10 of his 20 points and took 4 of his 5 rebounds in the final ten minutes.

Long-range shooting woes

Both teams struggled for accuracy from long-range, with Buducnost making only 6-of-20 three-point attempts (30%) while Zalgiris fared even worse, completing just 4 of its 18 shoots from downtown (22.2%). No player on either team scored more than one three-pointer on the night.

Buducnost struggles from foul line

A significant factor in the outcome was differing fortunes from the foul line. Buducnost went 8-of-17 on free throws (47.1%) while Zalgiris was much more accurate, missing only one foul shot all night (16-of-17).

Next round

In Round 7 both teams will play on home floor. Buducnost will host KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz on Thursday, while Zalgiris will welcome FC Barcelona Lassa a say later.

Zalgiris Kaunas celebrates - EB18
Friday, November 9, 2018
Euroleague.net
Referees: CHRISTODOULOU, CHRISTOS; PERUGA, CARLOS; FRITZ, CLEMENS
Attendance: 4417
By Quarter1234
Buducnost VOLI Podgorica15181512
Zalgiris Kaunas18152415
End of Quarter1234
Buducnost VOLI Podgorica15334860
Zalgiris Kaunas18335772
Buducnost VOLI Podgorica
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 JACKSON, EDWIN 27:40 5 0/2 1/4 2/4 3 1 4 3   1       3 7
2 IVANOVIC, NIKOLA 23:43 3   1/2     1 1 3 1 2     3 2 4
4 SEHOVIC, SUAD 15:17     0/2               1   3   -4
5 CLARK, EARL 22:13 9 3/8 1/3 0/2   7 7           3 3 7
6 BAROVIC, FILIP 6:35 4 1/4   2/4   1 1   1       1 3 3
7 CLARKE, COTY 21:45 7 2/5 1/3   2 4 6   1       3   6
8 SEHOVIC, SEAD DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10 GORDIC, NEMANJA 28:47 9 3/5 1/5   1 1 2 3 2 2     4 3 7
13 ILIC, ALEKSA 7:20 2 1/3     1 1 2   1         1 4
23 OMIC, ALEN 30:14 16 7/11   2/5 2 4 6       1   2 5 19
30 POPOVIC, PETAR 15:33 2 0/2   2/2       3       1 2 2 2
34 NIKOLIC, DANILO 0:53 3   1/1                       3
Team           2 1 3     2         1
Totals 200:00 60 17/40 6/20 8/17 11 21 32 12 6 7 2 1 21 22 59
        42.5% 30% 47.1%
Head coach: DZIKIC, ALEKSANDAR
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Zalgiris Kaunas
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 DAVIES, BRANDON 24:01 20 9/14   2/2 1 4 5   1       3 2 20
1 WALTON JR, DERRICK 13:27 3 0/4 1/1     3 3 3   2   1   1 3
3 WOLTERS, NATE 21:13 10 3/5 1/4 1/2 1 1 2 6   4     2 2 8
7 WALKUP, THOMAS 15:42   0/1     1 3 4     1     2 1 1
9 WESTERMANN, LEO 18:02     0/2   1 5 6 5         2 1 8
13 JANKUNAS, PAULIUS 10:07 7 2/2   3/3   2 2 1         2 3 11
17 BIRUTIS, LAURYNAS 2:21                              
21 MILAKNIS, ARTURAS 19:15 3   1/6     1 1 1 1       1 1 1
30 WHITE, AARON 29:22 6 2/6 0/1 2/2 2 3 5     1   1 1 3 6
40 GRIGONIS, MARIUS 10:02 3 0/1 1/1         1         3 1 1
44 KAVALIAUSKAS, ANTANAS 11:46 12 4/4   4/4 1 4 5 1     1   3 3 19
92 ULANOVAS, EDGARAS 24:42 8 2/4 0/3 4/4   3 3 2 1 1     3 3 8
Team           3   3               3
Totals 200:00 72 22/41 4/18 16/17 10 29 39 20 3 9 1 2 22 21 89
        53.7% 22.2% 94.1%
Head coach: JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS

Head Coaches

DZIKIC, ALEKSANDAR
Buducnost VOLI Podgorica
“Congratulations to Zalgiris. They were more aggressive. In the second half we didn’t have answers for that kind of constant aggression. We missed too many layups. Defensively after those turnovers and those layups our focus dropped down.”
JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS
Zalgiris Kaunas

“The most important thing when you come to such a difficult place to play is to win the game. So we are very happy that we pulled it out. We were not at our best, but I think watching all of the games of Buducnost this year in Podgorica they make every team not play their best basketball. And we were not an exception. We made a lot of mental mistakes. This is what they do. It is very difficult to win here. In general, we should be happy but thinking how we should improve."

“It was one of our worst games of the season. Credit to the guys for pulling it out, we showed character. But basketball-wise we were not very good, and we should not run away from that.”

Players

KAVALIAUSKAS, ANTANAS
Zalgiris Kaunas
“It was a tough game, we made lot of mental mistakes on defense and offense so we need to improve a lot.”
No results found.