Zalgiris holds off Reyer, reaches first-place game

U18 Zalgiris Kaunas booked its spot in the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Kaunas first-place game with a 74-71 victory over U18 Umana Reyer Venice. Ugnius Jarusevicius nailed the game-winning three-pointer with 4.3 seconds left to give the 2003 and 2007 continental champion its third win in three games in Group A. Paulius Murauskas led the home side Zalgiris with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Reyer dropped to 1-2 despite Nicola Berdini collecting 27 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals while Davide Casarin tallied 15 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals and Akos Kovacs scored 11 points.

Kovacs hit a three-pointer in the early going and Reyer was up 9-11. Murauskas began to take over with 10 straight points in an 18-3 run for a 27-14 lead, which was 29-16 after 10 minutes. Francesco Cravero cut the gap to 29-20 early in the second quarter before a Liutauras Lelevicius three-pointer helped increase the margin to 35-20. Two Rokas Jocius scores left Zalgiris up 40-27 but Reyer finished the first half on a 3-8 spurt to make it 43-35 at the break. Domnykas Stenionis knocked down a trey and Martynas Tamulevicius had four points as Zalgiris led 51-40. Berdini hit a triple to cut the deficit to 6 points only to see Matas Repsys hit four points at the other end, helping make it 62-50 after 30 minutes. Repsys started the fourth quarter pushing the gap to 14 points and a three-ball from Mantas Rubstavicius had the home side up 69-60. Giovanni Bellato followed with six points - the last four to tie the game 71-71 with 52 seconds left. Zalgiris held the ball in the closing seconds before Radvilas Kneizys kicked it to Jarusevicius, who nailed the game-winner with 4.3 seconds to play.