Mornar Bar vs. Rytas Vilnius - Game - Welcome to 7DAYS EuroCup

2018-19Regular SeasonRound 5

October 31, 2018 CET: 19:00

Local time: 19:00 TOPOLICA SPORTS HALL

Rytas turns to defense, blows past Mornar

Rytas Vilnius used a huge second half to register its first road win of the season, topping Mornar Bar 69-92 on Wednesday night. Martynas Echodas and Mindaugas Girdziunas scored 13 apiece for Rytas, which took a big step toward a place in the Top 16 by improving to 3-2 and a share of third place in Group D. Bronson Koenig scored 14 for Mornar, which dropped to 1-4 and fifth place. The Montenegrin champs committed 21 turnovers.

Deividas Sirvydis hit a pair of triples that helped Rytas take an early 8-14 lead, but Mornar answered from downtown through Strahinja Micovic. Rytas stayed in front, and a triple from Arnas Butkevicius made it 17-23. But Mornar cut it to 23-26 before the end of the first quarter, and Uros Lukovic opened the second with a dunk to make it a 1-point game. A three from Girdziunas and a three-point play from D.J. Seeley helped Rytas remain with the lead, 34-40, but the hosts made a charge. Antabia Waller hit a triple before a basket from Koenig gave the hosts their first lead of the night, 43-42. The teams went into halftime tied at 49-49, and Lukovic scored a put-back early in the third to give Mornar another slim advantage, 55-53. But Rytas stiffened up on defense and answered through Dominique Sutton, who scored half of Rytas points in a 0-16 run to grab control of the game. Chris Kramer's floater that beat the third-quarter buzzer made it 57-71 and Rytas continued running in transition, which led to them scoring the first 11 points of the fourth quarter and opening up a 57-82 lead and running away with victory.

Movers and shakers

The game featured 10 scorers in double figures. Martynas Echodas and Mindaugas Girdziunas scored 13 apiece for Rytas, Eimantas Bendzius and Dominique Sutton each scored 12, D.J. Seeley had 11 and Deividas Sirvydis scored 10 in the victory. Mornar's Bronson Koenig scored a game-high 14 points, Strahinja Micovic had 11, while Nikola Rebic and Uros Lukovic finished with 10 apiece for the hosts.

Stellar stats

The Rytas defense produced 15 steals, which is the most ever by the club in a EuroCup road game. Its previous high was 12; the Rytas club record in the competition stands at 19 steals. Rytas also committed just 8 turnovers, which is also the third fewest in a EuroCup road game for Rytas. In the end, Rytas forced 21 turnovers, and Mornar had only 1 steal.

Defense does it

The game was tied at 49-49 at halftime, but after the break, Rytas allowed only 20 points, including just 8 in the key third quarter.

Game-changing sequence

Mornar took a 55-53 lead in the third quarter, but Rytas's active defense, which produced 6 steals in the third quarter alone, and its control of the defensive boards started paying dividends. The visitors kept running in transition and getting easy baskets. A 0-16 run made it 55-69, a double-digit lead Rytas never relinquished. A 0-11 run to open the fourth quarter put the game out of reach for Mornar.

Next game

In Round 6 next week both teams go on the road. Mornar travels to face UNICS Kazan, and Rytas will face a tough road test against Unicaja Malaga.

Martynas Echodas - Rytas Vilnius (photo Mornar) - EC18

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Eurocupbasketball.com

Referees: GARCIA, JUAN CARLOS; ROCHA, FERNANDO; PANTHER, ANNE

Attendance: 1168

By Quarter	1	2	3	4
Mornar Bar	23	26	8	12
Rytas Vilnius	26	23	22	21

End of Quarter	1	2	3	4
Mornar Bar	23	49	57	69
Rytas Vilnius	26	49	71	92

Mornar Bar

							Rebounds						Blocks		Fouls
#	Player	Min	Pts	2FG	3FG	FT	O	D	T	As	St	To	Fv	Ag	Cm	Rv	PIR
0	CARRINGTON, KHADEEN	19:59	8	2/3	0/2	4/6		1	1	3		2				4	9
4	MICOVIC, STRAHINJA	20:11	11	2/3	2/2	1/2	1	3	4	1		1			3	3	13
7	KOENIG, BRONSON	30:52	14	4/7	2/8		1	2	3	1		4			4		1
8	MIJOVIC, MARKO	7:26					1	2	3			1			1		1
10	MUGOSA, MARKO	11:00	4	1/2	0/2	2/2	1	1	2			1			1	1	2
13	DRENOVAC, DORDE	18:37	3	0/1	1/3			3	3	2	1	1		1	2		2
14	PAVIC, VUKOTA	19:16		0/3	0/1		2	1	3	1				1	3		-4
17	VUJOSEVIC, RADOJE	9:13					2	2	4	1		3			3	3	2
21	PAVICEVIC, LAZAR	6:14	3		1/1							1				1	3
24	WALLER, ANTABIA	11:59	6	0/2	2/6			1	1	1		2			1		-1
44	REBIC, NIKOLA	20:01	10	1/1	2/3	2/2		1	1	4		3			2	2	11
55	LUKOVIC, UROS	25:12	10	5/6			2	3	5	1		2	1			2	16
	Team						2	2	4								4
	Totals	200:00	69	15/28	10/28	9/12	12	22	34	15	1	21	1	2	20	16	59
				53.6%	35.7%	75%

Head coach: PAVICEVIC, MIHAILO

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

Rytas Vilnius

							Rebounds						Blocks		Fouls
#	Player	Min	Pts	2FG	3FG	FT	O	D	T	As	St	To	Fv	Ag	Cm	Rv	PIR
0	SIRVYDIS, DEIVIDAS	23:26	10	0/2	2/3	4/4		4	4	1	1				2	3	14
2	SUTTON, DOMINIQUE	23:09	12	5/7	0/1	2/4	1	3	4	2	2				2	3	16
3	KRAMER, CHRIS	20:50	6	3/7		0/1	1		1	3	2				2	1	6
9	PILAUSKAS, AISTIS	2:02								1		1
11	SEELEY, DENNIS	25:02	11	4/7	0/3	3/3	1		1	2	2	1			2	4	11
14	ECHODAS, MARTYNAS	19:19	13	5/6		3/6	3	3	6	1	1	1			1	4	19
18	GIRDZIUNAS, MINDAUGAS	24:05	13	1/4	3/4	2/2		1	1	3	2				2	1	14
22	BENDZIUS, EIMANTAS	16:51	12	1/1	2/7	4/4	1	2	3	2						2	14
23	BLAZEVIC, MAREK	5:11		0/2			2	2	4	1		1			1		1
25	KAIRYS, EVALDAS	17:32	6	3/6			2	1	3	1	2	1	2	1	2		7
51	BUTKEVICIUS, ARNAS	22:33	9	3/8	1/2		1	2	3	1	3	1			2	2	9
	Team						3	3	6			2					4
	Totals	200:00	92	25/50	8/20	18/24	15	21	36	18	15	8	2	1	16	20	115
				50%	40%	75%

Head coach: ADOMAITIS, DAINIUS

Head Coaches

PAVICEVIC, MIHAILO

Mornar Bar

"First I want to congratulate the coach and team of Rytas. They deserved this win because they played quite intensively for all 40 minutes. Speaking about the game – up until the third quarter the score was 55-55 and then we just stopped playing. I don't really know what happened with our team. During the first half I was quite satisfied with how we played offensively. Defensively, however, we still have a lot of problems. In the second half, we answered the aggressive defense that came from the opponents and we played well offensively. We were, however, very soft on defense and we let them score 20 points without even using our bonuses. That says enough about how we were prepared for this match."

ADOMAITIS, DAINIUS

Rytas Vilnius

"What we saw in tonight’s game against Mornar were two different halves. In the first half, we made a lot of mistakes defensively. For each of those mistakes, our opponents would punish us, whether by three-pointers or good offensive play. In the second half, our defense was much better. Lesser rotations helped us play better defensively, so we did not make the same mistakes we did in the beginning. We just want to play one game a time. We cannot look forward too much because at the beginning of the season we had a lot of problems with injuries. Now getting everyone back and ready for the next game is our priority."

Players

ECHODAS, MARTYNAS

Rytas Vilnius

"In the first half we played really bad. Our offense was good, but our pick-and-roll defense was really bad. They kicked out the ball and made a lot of threes, and our boxing out was bad, too. In the second half, we had a good game plan and won by 23 points."