VEF Riga used a 1-13 run in the fourth quarter to eventually pull away with a 61-83 victory over Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius in Group B action at the ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT in Kaunas. Rodions Kurucs led VEF Riga with 18 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks while Verners Kohs and Eduards Hazners both scored 15 points and Zigmars Raimo collected 14 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, helping VEF Riga move to 1-0. Jokubas Svambaris paced Lietuvos Rytas with 13 points while Lukas Kvedaravicius and Danielius Kopustas both had 11 points and eight rebounds in the loss, dropping the Lithuanian team to 0-1.

Kurucs opened the game with two three-pointers for an 0-6 lead. Svambaris answered with two baskets and Kvedaravicius’s free throw made it 7-8. Kurucs upped the VEF Riga lead to 7-10 before two Kvedaravicius free throws and a foul shot from Svambaris to even the game at 10-10. After Hazners pushed VEF Riga back ahead, Svambaris scored two baskets to give Lietuvos Rytas its first lead at 14-12. Two Svambaris free throws gave him 11 points in the first quarter and the Lithuanian team a 16-14 lead. Hazners responded with a three-ball to start a string of three straight lead changes with VEF Riga ahead 19-21 after 10 minutes on Kristaps Feikners’ two foul shots. Lietuvos Rytas tallied the first nine points of the second quarter including a triple by Arnas Berucka for a 28-21 lead. VEF Riga missed its first nine shots of the second quarter and turned it over three times before Kurucs finally put the Latvian team on the scoreboard with 4:34 minutes left in the half. Kristers Korkis added a free throw to pull within 28-24. Kopustas and Dainius Ozelis scored to push the lead out to eight points before a Kohs three-ball for VEF Riga. But Berucka and Kvedaravicius both added two points to give Lietuvos Rytas a 36-27 cushion. Hazner however responded with a three-pointer and Zorkis trimmed the gap to 36-33. Mantas Pigaga nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to give Lietuvos Rytas a 39-33 lead at intermission.

Kopustas started the second half with a free throw to increase the advantage to 40-33. After Raimo cut it to 40-35, Kurucs picked up his third foul with 7:45 minutes left in the third. The other VEF Riga players stepped up as Hazners scored and Kohs hit two free throws to make it 40-39. Kopustas pushed the Lietuvos Rytas lead back to three points but Kohs scored another basket and Hazners drained a three-ball to push the Latvian side ahead 42-44. Kopustas came back to even the game before Zorkis knocked down a three-ball and Kohs split two foul shots for a 44-48 VEF Riga lead. Svambaris finally scored again after having 11 points in the first seven minutes of the game to pull it to 46-48. Raimo responded with two baskets and Kohs hit another score as VEF Riga was up 48-54 after 30 minutes. Karolis Lukosiunas opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 51-54. But Lietuvos Rytas went cold, missing six straight shots and turning the ball over three times while six different players scored in VEF Riga’s 1-13 run to open a 52-67 lead with less than six minutes to play. Lukosiunas finally hit another basket for Lietuvos Rytas but Kohs and Raimo both knocked down three-balls to increase the advantage to 56-77. After a Kvedaravicius three-ball, Kurucs scored six straight points to finish strong.