2017-18Regular SeasonRound 27
Zalgiris Kaunas 77
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan 65
March 20, 2018 CET: 19:00
Local time: 20:00 ZALGIRIO ARENA

White lifts Zalgiris over Milan

Aaron White single-handedly outscored AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan 14-3 in a run that bridged the third and fourth quarters to give Zalgiris Kaunas control for good en route to a 77-65 victory on Tuesday night at Zalgirio Arena. The visitors led by 5 late in the third quarter, but once the Lithuanian champs got going they never stopped in improving their record to 16-11. Aaron White finished with 16 points and 8 rebounds to lead Zalgiris, Paulius Jankunas posted 15 points, Brandon Davies added 11 and Kevin Pangos dished 10 assists for the victors. Former Zalgiris center Arturas Gudaitis shined with 19 points and 10 rebounds for Milan, another ex-Zalgiris player Mindaugas Kuzminskas added 12 points and Curtis Jerrells scored 10 in a defeat that dropped the team record to 9-18.

Davies opened the scoring with a hook shot and Jankunas added a layup as the hosts took charge. Nearly three and a half minutes passed before Gudaitis got the visitors on the scoreboard with free throws and Pangos netted 5 points for an 11-2 Zalgiris advantage before Gudaitis got going with the visitors' first two baskets. Kuzminskas buried a three and sank free throws to draw Milan within 12-11. Vasilije Micic revived the Zalgiris attack with a layup. Kuzminskas added another three, but Zalgiris retained a slim lead, 17-16, after 10 minutes. Beno Udrih found Antanas Kavaliauskas for a layup before splitting free throws himself as Zalgiris stretched its lead. Triples by Dairis Bertans and Amath M'Baye evened the score at 24-24 midway through the second quarter. M'Baye came up with a block on one end and a floater on the other to give Milan its first lead, 26-28. The lead changed hands twice more before a three by Bertans left the visitors ahead 31-34 at the break.

The lead switched hands a few more times early in the second half with Zalgiris unable to find a way to stop Gudaitis in the paint, but Arturas Milaknis rising to the occasion with 6 points. After Edgaras Ulanovas split free throws, the score was tied, 42-42, midway through the third quarter. Milan took charge with a three by Jerrells and a Kaleb Tarczewski put-back slam to lead by 5, but a pair of Micic layups got the crowd involved and Kavaliauskas tied it twice. Micic completed the comeback with a basket-plus-foul and White beat the third-quarter buzzer with a perfectly-timed put-back layup for a 54-50 advantage. White scored the first 6 points of the fourth quarter to create the first double-digit lead of the game, 60-50. Gudaitis stopped the bleeding with a three-point play, but White dunked on an alley-oop from Pangos and again on a pass from Jankunas to stamp his authority on the game. The lead peaked at 71-56 with two and a half minutes remaining after another White put-back and Milan never threatened again.

Aaron White - Zalgiris Kaunas - EB17
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Euroleague.net
Referees: JOVCIC, MILIVOJE; KOROMILAS, ELIAS; MOGULKOC, EMIN
Attendance: 13747
By Quarter1234
Zalgiris Kaunas17142323
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan16181615
End of Quarter1234
Zalgiris Kaunas17315477
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan16345065
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 19:01 11 4/6   3/4 1 3 4 2 3     1 4 3 15
3 PANGOS, KEVIN 30:40 7 1/5 1/4 2/2   3 3 10   1     3 4 13
6 TOUPANE, AXEL 16:47 1 0/1   1/2 1 2 3 2   1       2 5
9 UDRIH, BENO 3:56 1     1/2 1 1 2 1   3       1 1
13 JANKUNAS, PAULIUS 21:38 15 6/11   3/4 2 4 6 2 1 3     2 3 16
20 MASIULIS, GYTIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 MILAKNIS, ARTURAS 22:02 6 1/1 1/4 1/1   6 6     1 1   3 1 7
22 MICIC, VASILIJE 20:02 9 4/7 0/1 1/6 1 1 2 2   2     1 4 5
30 WHITE, AARON 27:15 16 6/8   4/6 5 3 8       1   2 3 22
44 KAVALIAUSKAS, ANTANAS 11:25 8 4/6     2 4 6         1 2   9
66 VALINSKAS, PAULIUS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
92 ULANOVAS, EDGARAS 27:14 3 0/4   3/4   2 2 3   1 1 1 1 3 4
Team           4 3 7               7
Totals 200:00 77 26/49 2/9 19/31 17 32 49 22 4 12 3 3 18 24 104
        53.1% 22.2% 61.3%
Head coach: JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS
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
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 GOUDELOCK, ANDREW 25:37   0/4 0/4     1 1   1       4 1 -9
5 MICOV, VLADIMIR 27:20   0/3 0/4     1 1 4 2 1   1 1 4 1
7 PASCOLO, DAVIDE DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
15 TARCZEWSKI, KALEB 17:21 7 3/5   1/1 2 1 3       1 1 3 1 6
19 KUZMINSKAS, MINDAUGAS 26:53 12 2/5 2/4 2/2 2 2 4   1 1     2 1 10
20 CINCIARINI, ANDREA 15:29 3 1/3 0/3 1/2 1 2 3 2 1 3     2 1 -1
22 CUSIN, MARCO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
23 ABASS, AWUDU 4:30   0/1       1 1     1     2   -3
24 M'BAYE, AMATH 13:07 5 1/3 1/2 0/2   2 2   1   1   3 2 3
45 BERTANS, DAIRIS 19:26 9   3/5     1 1 2         2 2 10
55 JERRELLS, CURTIS 27:38 10 3/4 1/5 1/2   2 2 5 1 1     1 1 11
77 GUDAITIS, ARTURAS 22:39 19 6/10   7/7 5 5 10       1 1 4 5 26
Team           2 1 3               3
Totals 200:00 65 16/38 7/27 12/16 12 19 31 13 7 7 3 3 24 18 57
        42.1% 25.9% 75%
Head coach: PIANIGIANI, SIMONE

Head Coaches

JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS
Zalgiris Kaunas
"It was not so nervous, this one. I think we controlled the game from the beginning of the fourth. We played pretty good defense all game and it was a great effort by the guys, because we got the advantage by driving the ball, we got the advantage by offensive rebounds and by just simply outworking and this is exactly what I asked the guys before the game and they did a great job."
PIANIGIANI, SIMONE
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan
"We know that we have a lot of problems against Zalgiris because they have a lot of mismatches and we don’t have enough size. I think for 25 minutes we played solid defense, we tried with some great effort, but we missed some open shots that didn’t give us a gap to resist in the second half. After that we lost our concentration for two, three minutes. We gave them some offensive rebounds with free throws, some violations, we lost the ball without reason and after that we kept missing shots. It was difficult for us. On offense we have to play much better to score some shots here and when we miss this kind of chance, it is difficult to resist against their size."

Players

WHITE, AARON
Zalgiris Kaunas
"We just knew coming off two losses that we needed to play a good game and Milano's been playing great, so we had to fight. It took us four quarters, so I'm proud of our team. I was really bad the first three quarter to be honest; I made a lot of mistakes. So I'm happy I was able to step up for my team and make some plays down the stretch."