Rytas roll by CSKA to move to 2-0

Reigning continental champion U18 Rytas Vilnius grabbed its second victory in Group B of the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Kaunas by cruising past U18 CSKA Moscow 85-64. Hubertas Pivorius paced four Rytas players in double figures with 15 points while Mantas Rubstavicius scored 14 points, Marek Blazevich had 12 points and 6 rebounds and Augustas Marciulionis added 11 points, 4 assists and 4 steals. Azoulsa Tubelis chipped in 8 points, 5 rebounds, 4 steals and 5 blocks as last season’s ANGT Kaunas winner moved to 2-0 in the group thanks to 21 steals. CSKA was paced by Vladislav Goldin with 12 points while Ivan Belousov and Denis Kovalev both scored 10 points. Viktor Lakhin had 9 points and 11 rebounds and Filipp Gafurov picked up 9 points and 10 rebounds.

CSKA jumped ahead 8-13 thanks to two three-pointers from Kovalev and 4 points from Vladislav Goldin. Two more Goldin baskets made it 11-17. But Rytas held CSKA scoreless for the final 3:54 minutes of the first quarter and went on a 14-0 run to lead 25-17 after 10 minutes. Belousov picked up 5 points for CSKA in cutting the gap to 29-26 but Rytas answered with a 14-1 surge and pulled ahead 43-27. Belousov knocked down a second three-pointer to help the Russian side make it 44-35. And the score was 46-35 at intermission. CSKA hit 7 straight points early in the third quarter and the margin was 48-42. Erikas Jermolajevas and Rubstavicius both knocked down triples at the other end as Rytas surged back up by 12 points, 56-44. And Blazevich added 5 points late in the quarter for a 63-50 Rytas cushion after 30 minutes. Seven straight points for Rytas early in the final frame extended the lead to 70-52. CSKA managed to trim it to 72-58 but could not get closer the rest of the way.