2005-06Regular SeasonRound 12
January 26, 2006 CET: 20:45
Local time: 20:45 S.DARIUS AND S.GIRENAS SPORT CENTER
Zalgiris stayed in the fight to win Group A at the end of the regular season by thrashing visiting GHP Bamberg 86-65 in Kaunas, Lithuania on Thursday night. Zalgiris improved to 8-4 and ties with Climamio Bologna for the second place in Group A, while Bamberg dropped to 6-6 but made it to the Top 16 despite this loss, because Union Olimpija beat AEK in Athens. Bamberg has two victories against Union Olimpija, the only team that can now tie it for fifth place. Tanoka Beard led the winners with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists. Simonas Serapinas had 15 points off the bench, Reggie Freeman added 13 while Paulius Jankunas and Darjus Lavrinovic each scored 10 for Zalgiris. Steffen Hammann had 12 points for Bamberg, which became the first German team ever to reach the Top 16. Zalgiris led 40-37 at halftime but Beard and Serapinas shined in the second half to seal the win long before the final buzzer.

Beard got the first Zalgiris basket but Hamann responded with a nice layup. Bamberg ran its offense aggressively and forced Zalgiris to pick up three quick fouls while Hamann's free throws put the visitors up 3-4. Zalgiris found Beard outside the arc for a triple but Chris Ensminger hit turnaround jumper to tie 6-6. Jankunas converted an offensive rebound into easy points but Koko Archibong got open to tie for Bamberg, 10-10. Jankunas kept Zalgiris going with pair of three throws and a basket inside while Beard added difficult layup and Freeman nailed bomb from the downtown. Darjus Lavrinovic anchored the defense, rejecting a shot by Robert Garrett. Bamberg turned to its end-of-quarter ace, Derrick Phelps, for a buzzer-beater that hit nothing but net to cut the Zalgiris advantage to 21-18 after 10 minutes.

The Kaunas crowd welcomed new point gaurd Kenny Anderson to start the second quarter, but it was Serapinas who brought them to their feet with a spectacular dunk and layup. Bamberg didn't let up, however. Archibong made a three-point play before Anderson fed Darius Silinskis for a layup. With Beard on the bench, Ensminger grabbed an offensive rebound that was converted to three points by Phelps, then Garrett scored to get the visitors as close enough for Archibong to give them a lead with free throws, 27-28. Beard returned to assist Freeman on a three-point basket-plus-free throw to push Zalgiris back in front 30-28. Vidas Ginevicius came hot off the bench and nailed a three-pointer before Beard added another bsket that made it 36-30. Nelson went coast-to-coast among his back-to-back baskets for Bamberg, but Beard fed Lavrinovic for a two-handed dunk that left Zalgiris still in front, 40-37 a halftime.

Hamann shined early in the second half, hitting a semi-hook and a layup. But Zalgiris polished its offense as Freeman answered immediately with a jumper off the dribble, while Serapinas with Lavrinovic combined for 5 points to push hosts ahead 47-41. Bamberg turned to Archibong, but Lavrinovic rejected his shot, although Ensminger fed Nelson for a Bamberg basket. Zalgiris made a move now, finding Freeman and Ginevicius on the perimeter for back-to-back triples that produced the first double-digit lead, 55-43. The three-point shootout continued as Serapinas exchanged a pair of his own with Garrett and Tim Begley as Zalgiris retained a 63-49 advantage after 30 minutes.

Beard opened the final quarter with free throws and Serapinas fired up the crowd with a steal and dunk. Bamberg turned to man-to-man defense and it paid off soon with a steal and basket by Demond Mallet, but the Zalgiris offensive machine stayed smooth as Ginevicius connected from the corner to make it 71-51. Both teams exchanged the baskets before the pace slowed down until Beard crashed the board with a dunk and added a layup that boosted the lead to 75-55. Beard continued scoring from the foul line but Begley reacted with shot from the downtown. He later fired another triple from the left wing, but red-hot Zalgiris answered with 5 points by Jankunas and Lavrinovic to put another victory beyond doubt.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Antanas Pakula, Kaunas
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Referees: SUDEK, PETR; JOVCIC, MILIVOJE; HERCEG, SINISA; RIMKUS, TOMAS
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
Zalgiris21192323
GHP Bamberg18191216
End of Quarter1234
Zalgiris21406386
GHP Bamberg18374965
Zalgiris
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 GINEVICIUS, VIDAS 37:00 9   3/5         5 1 2     2 2 11
5 FREEMAN, REGGIE 33:30 13 2/3 2/5 3/3       5 1 1       3 17
6 BEARD, TANOKA 33:15 23 7/13 1/3 6/7 5 5 10 5 1 1 1   3 7 34
7 LAVRINOVIC, DARJUS 20:00 10 2/7 2/4     9 9 2     2 1 4   11
8 MACIULIS, JONAS 17:00 4 0/2 0/2 4/6 3 1 4   1 1     4 5 3
10 ANDERSON, KENNETH 6:45   0/2       1 1 1           1 1
12 DILYS, VILMANTAS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13 JANKUNAS, PAULIUS 21:15 10 3/4 0/1 4/7 4 5 9           4 5 15
14 SILINSKIS, DARIUS 4:30 2 1/1                     1   1
15 SERAPINAS, SIMONAS 26:45 15 4/8 2/4 1/4 1 2 3   3         3 15
22 ALEKSANDROVAS, ANDRIUS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team                   7           7
Totals 200:00 86 19/40 10/24 18/27 13 23 36 18 14 5 3 1 18 26 115
        47.5% 41.7% 66.7%
Head coach: SIREIKA, ANTANAS
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
GHP Bamberg
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 ENSMINGER, CHRIS 24:00 3 1/7   1/2 5 3 8 2   1     3 2 4
5 MALLET, DEMOND 19:30 4 2/2 0/4     2 2   1 1     3 2 1
6 HAMANN, STEFFEN 19:45 12 5/6 0/1 2/2       2   1     1 1 11
7 STAFFORD, RICHARD DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
9 HELMANIS, UVIS 17:45 7 1/1 1/3 2/2   3 3 1 1 2     3 2 7
11 PAVIC, IVAN 2:15                         1   -1
12 GARRETT, ROBERT 17:30 7 3/5 0/3 1/2   1 1 1   1   1 2 1  
15 PHELPS, DERRICK 17:00 3   1/2     1 1 2   1         4
20 ARCHIBONG, KOKO 34:30 9 3/6 0/2 3/3   6 6   1 2     5 4 8
22 NAHAR, MIKEL 11:00 2 1/2                 1 1 1 1 1
31 BEGLEY, TIM 14:00 9   3/5     1 1 1   1     3   5
33 NELSON, SPENCER 22:45 9 3/7   3/4 1 5 6 2   4   1 4 5 8
Team                   2           2
Totals 200:00 65 19/36 5/20 12/15 6 22 28 11 5 14 1 3 26 18 50
        52.8% 25% 80%
Head coach: BAUERMANN, DIRK
This game has no play by play yet

Head Coaches

SIREIKA, ANTANAS
Zalgiris
"I think my players took this game seriously. They really played with heart. I think our fans enjoyed the game. We tried to cheer them up after our last loss. I am really satisfied with the efforts all my players showed. They played very good. Simonas Serapinas played great today and I am excited about his performance. We brought energy on the court. Every player was in the game. Sometimes we were too emotional but we won and that is the most important thing. We put Kenny Anderson in the game for the very first time and he is going to fit into our system. He understands the situation and I believe he will be very valuable in the future."
BAUERMANN, DIRK
GHP Bamberg
"I would like to thank Zalgiris for a warm welcome. It's really sad we lost, but I think the better team has won. We controlled the game in the first half but after that we lost the touch of the game. Zalgiris made some good long-distance shots in the third quarter and we started to struggle on defense. They turned on, the crowd turned on and we lost control of the game. Zalgiris played with heart. As a national coach team I would love to have such a chemistry on the national team as Zalgiris showed tonight. After all, I want to congatulate Zalgiris. They have a really great roster with a lot of gifted young players."

Players

GINEVICIUS, VIDAS
Zalgiris
"We weren't expecting an easy game and leading by only three points after first half proved that. Bamberg is a strong team this year, so the game was tough. At halftime our coach wasn't happy with the margin, but he told us to focus on the defense. Our defense was good throughout the game and that was the key for our victory. I have no problems taking the primary point spot until Kenny finds his rhythm. Of course, I need to share my playing minutes with him. Our efforts should bring strong backourt play and that will help our team to lift the level of our game."
ANDERSON, KENNETH
Zalgiris
"Basketball is global, so competition here is also tough. Different rules didn't make an influence for me, because I've been playing basketball since I was ten years old. I was fine. I have been here only a day and a half, so I don't know the plays yet. I tried to help the team as much I could under such circumstances. Once I get familiar with the plays, you know where the ball has to be, I'll be fine. That takes time."
NELSON, SPENCER
GHP Bamberg
"We expected to come and to compete and to have a chance to win, but Zalgiris played really tough tonight. We stayed with them in the first half, but then they started hitting outside shots in the second and they were a little bit too much for us tonight. I'm giving them all the credit in the world: Zalgiris played a great game. In the second half, we had a tough time running our offense, they were getting into passing lanes and we weren't making good decisions. Hitting tough three-pointers opened the game for Zalgiris, because we were able to keep them from doing that in first 20 minutes."
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