2019-20Regular SeasonRound 2
October 09, 2019 CET: 20:45
Local time: 20:45 PALAIS DES SPORTS DE BEAUBLANC

Limoges uses defense to down Rytas

Limoges CSP registered its first win in Group B by downing visiting Rytas Vilnius 82-61 on Wednesday. Both teams now hold 1-1 records in the group. Limoges took the lead at the end of the first quarter, but pulled away for good early in fourth, using a 19-6 spurt to open an unsurmountable 17-point margin. Semaj Christon led Limoges with 19 points and 8 rebounds. Vincent Sanford netted 16 points to go with 6 rebounds. Hugo Invernizzi was 4-for-6 from three-point range for 14 points. Marcus Ginyard and Brian Conklin finished with 10 points apiece for the winners. Pako Cruz was Rytas's top scorer with 13 points, and Terrell Holloway added 10 in defeat.

The teams traded blows early on, with Brian Conklin and Christon hitting consecutive threes to give Limoges the lead, before triples from Cruz and Eimantas Bendzius made it 14-17 for Rytas. Christon remained hot, and Invernizzi hit from downtown to restore a Limoges lead at the end of first quarter before a three-point play from Conklin made it a 24-17 lead. Christon's jumper extended it to 29-21 midway through the second quarter, but Holloway got Rytas going and Arnas Butkevicius made a corner triple, cutting the difference to 33-31 at halftime. Holloway opened the second half with a second-chance triple as the teams continued to trade leads. Butkevicius had a three-point play and Cruz hit a triple for the visitors, but Jerry Boutsiele hit a jumper and Vincent Sanford nailed a pair, giving Limoges a 43-42 advantage. Mindaugas Girdziunas hit one from downtown for Rytas, but Invernizzi had 2 triples in a 9-0 run that opened a 56-48 advantage. A pair of threes from Deividas Sirvydis cut the lead to 58-54 at the end of the third quarter, but Marcus Ginyard had a triple and a three-point play to open the fourth and extend the margin for Limoges. Baskets were few and far between until a jumper from Christon and back-to-back triples from Sanford capped a 10-0 Limoges run, pushing the margin to 77-60 with 2 minutes to go, sealing the deal.

Tag-team scoring

Semaj Christon scored 11 of his 19 points in the first quarter, Hugo Invernizzi netted 11 of his 14 points in second and third quarters, while Vincent Sanford netted 9 of his 16 points in the final 2:40 of the game to put the game on ice.

Been a long time

Limoges held Rytas to 61 points, which is tied for the second-fewest points Limoges has allowed in a EuroCup game. The only time Limoges allowed fewer points was in its first-ever EuroCup game, when it held PAOK Thessaloniki to 59 points in the 2014-15 season.

Free throw woes

No team in Round 1 scored more than the 92 points that Rytas put up, but the team scored just 61 in Round 2. Apart from being forced into 18 turnovers, and held at 9-for-31 on two-pointers, Rytas also struggled mightily from the foul line, making just 13 of 25 free throw attempts.

Next up

Rytas returns home next week, and will host the group leader Partizan NIS Belgrade (2-0), while Limoges goes on the road to face Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar (1-1).

Hugo Invernizzi - Limoges CSP (photo Limoges) - EC19
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
Eurocupbasketball.com
Referees: CORTES, CARLOS; PANTHER, ANNE; GELLER, RENAUD
Attendance: 3578
By Quarter1234
Limoges CSP19142524
Rytas Vilnius1714237
End of Quarter1234
Limoges CSP19335882
Rytas Vilnius17315461
Limoges CSP
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 MBALA, BENOIT 7:32   0/1     1 2 3 1 1       2 1 3
1 GINYARD, MARCUS 33:55 10 3/6 1/3 1/1   5 5 3 2 1   1 1 2 14
5 CRUSOL, TIMOTHE 6:05                   1         -1
6 CHRISTON, SEMAJ 30:45 19 8/12 1/4 0/1   2 2 8 3 2     2 1 21
9 VARANAUSKAS, OVIDIJUS 9:15   0/3 0/1     2 2 3       1      
10 INVERNIZZI, HUGO 23:42 14 1/2 4/6     2 2 1   1     2 1 12
12 DIAGNE, ATOUMANE 13:08   0/1     1 3 4 2 1 1 1   5 1 2
14 CONKLIN, BRIAN 20:06 10 3/7 1/3 1/1   3 3     1     2 3 7
15 LANG, NICOLAS 16:47 7 2/2 1/2   1   1           2 2 7
16 BOUTSIELE, JERRY 15:32 6 3/6     2 2 4 4         2 1 10
44 SANFORD, VINCENT 23:13 16 3/4 3/3 1/1   6 6 1 1 1   1 4 2 19
Team           2 1 3               3
Totals 200:00 82 23/44 11/22 3/4 7 28 35 23 8 8 1 3 22 14 97
        52.3% 50% 75%
Head coach: JULBE, ALFRED
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 10:37 6   2/4     2 2     3     1   2
2 BICKAUSKIS, DOVIS 13:34     0/2     2 2 3   3       1 1
5 GIEDRAITIS, KAROLIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7 HOLLOWAY, TERRELL 27:19 10 2/6 2/5   3 3 6 4   2       1 12
9 CRUZ, PAKO 27:46 13 1/5 3/5 2/5 1 3 4 3 1 2     4 4 10
14 ECHODAS, MARTYNAS 16:04 4 2/4     2 3 5     2 1   1   5
18 GIRDZIUNAS, MINDAUGAS 11:21 3 0/1 1/1                   1 1 2
22 BENDZIUS, EIMANTAS 21:33 4 0/2 1/3 1/4 2 3 5     2 1   3 3 1
23 BLAZEVIC, MAREK DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
32 KAIRYS, EVALDAS 20:42 7 2/3   3/4 3 2 5 1   2     4 4 9
41 BAIRSTOW, CAMERON 21:41 7 1/5 0/1 5/9 1 4 5 1   1       5 8
51 BUTKEVICIUS, ARNAS 29:23 7 1/5 1/2 2/3 1 3 4 1 1 1 1 1   3 9
Team                                
Totals 200:00 61 9/31 10/23 13/25 13 25 38 13 2 18 3 1 14 22 59
        29% 43.5% 52%
Head coach: ADOMAITIS, DAINIUS

Head Coaches

JULBE, ALFRED
Limoges CSP
"I am very satisfied with our victory. Not only for winning but with the way we accomplished this win. I am also happy with our supporters. It is hard to decide to go to the gym and help the team on a working day, and we are very happy for them. We played good defense, continued effort, second efforts. Even when we had difficulties in rebounding situations, we were fighting and fighting and we are very happy for that."
ADOMAITIS, DAINIUS
Rytas Vilnius
"Limoges played great defense, especially in the second half. They put as away from the spots where we need to have the ball. They applied great pressure, they had more than average steals, and scored 20 points on fastbreaks. That was a big point for us before the game, that we cannot have turnovers and give them easy buckets. That's what happened; we had 18 turnovers. Offensively, more than 10 times we did not come to the right spot with the ball, where we are supposed to be. They played good defense, with a lot of contact, aggressive. That was the biggest problem for us."

Players

CHRISTON, SEMAJ
Limoges CSP
"It is a big win for. We tried to bounce back, trying to do things right and play the whole 40 minutes. I feel like tonight we got better, and did play for 40 minutes."
INVERNIZZI, HUGO
Limoges CSP
"We did a good job. We had a tough loss this weekend, had a tough loss at Tofas. We needed a reaction, and that is what we did. Everybody brought something on the court, some energy, and it was good game for us. The fans were amazing. They pushed us when we were a little bit down at the beginning of the second half, and we kept going until the end. It was just a great ambiance."
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