2018-19Top 16Round 4
ALBA Berlin 87
Rytas Vilnius 85
January 22, 2019 CET: 20:00
Local time: 20:00 MERCEDES-BENZ ARENA

Down 21, ALBA rallies past Rytas

Martin Hermannsson capped a career night by making the go-ahead free throws with 1.6 seconds remaining to lift ALBA Berlin to a hard-fought 87-85 victory over Rytas Vilnius on Tuesday at Mercedes-Benz Arena. Hermannsson scored a career-best 25 points in 6-of-8 three-point shooting in lifting ALBA to a 3-1 record and first place in Group E of the Top 16. ALBA is now one win away from clinching a berth in the quarterfinals. Rokas Giedraitis netted 16 points on 4-of-6 shooting from downtown, Niels Giffey added 10 points and Luke Sikma posted 9 points and 7 assists for the winners. Eimantas Bendzius paced Rytas with 16 points, D.J. Seeley scored 14 and Art Parakhouski and Rok Stipcevic added 12 points apiece. The loss dropped Rytas to 1-3.

The hosts started well and led 10-4 after a Luke Sikma layup, but back-to-back three-pointers by Bendzius soon tied the game. Stipcevic gave Rytas its first lead with a pair of free throws that made it 10-12 midway through the first quarter. Rytas led by as many as 5 with Chris Kramer capping a 2-13 charge before Giedraitis got ALBA back on track with a triple. Giffey made ALBA's fifth three of the opening quarter to bring his team within 25-27 after 10 minutes. Hermannsson's basket-plus-foul tied the score early in the second quarter, however, Seeley scored 5 in a 2-11 surge that made it 31-40. Bendzius's third three of the night gave Rytas a double-digit lead and it kept on growing. Stipcevic followed free throws with a three-pointer that gave the visitors a 39-57 cushion at the break. Bendzius started the second half with another triple that pushed the margin into the 20s. Hermannsson heated up for ALBA to close the gap to 46-62 before Rytas called timeout. The brief stop did little to cool down the ALBA guard, who knocked down 2 more triples and a baseline jumper to get his team within 8. Parakhouski free throws stopped the ALBA run at 11-0, but Hermannsson sank another three and Stefan Peno scored on consecutive possessions, which prompted a Rytas timeout at 64-67. Rytas led 66-70 entering the fourth quarter only to see ALBA strike quickly and take the lead 71-70 on Franz Wagner's second-chance layup-and-one. Giffey added a three to cap an 8-0 start to the quarter before Parakhouski's putback revived Rytas. Rytas kept it close and Seeley's three-pointer made it 84-83 with 1:10 to go and Stipcevic's layup gave Rytas the lead with 29 seconds remaining. After a frantic possession that saw ALBA miss twice, Hermannsson was fouled with 1.6 seconds remaining and sank 3 free throws to win it. Seeley caught a long pass and had a shot to tie it at the buzzer, but came up short.

Numbers behind the score

ALBA was buoyed by its excellent three-point shooting (12 of 26; 46.2%) plus its 13 offensive and 40 total rebounds. Rytas was aided by committing only 6 turnovers while dishing 20 assists, but paid a price for its subpar two-point shooting (14 of 33; 42.4%).

Turning point

This game had a great many turning points, but the final one came via offensive rebounds from Joshiko Saibou and Luke Sikma on ALBA's final possession. If Rytas gets either of those, it runs out the clock. Instead, Sikma got the ball to Martin Hermannsson who won it from the line.

Hermannsson the hero

Martin Hermannsson has scored in double figures and made a three-pointer in all but one of the 10 games he's played in the 7DAYS EuroCup this season, but he was at his best on Tuesday. The guard from Iceland scored 25 points and made 6 three-pointers, which were both personal bests. He only scored 5 points in the first half before exploding for 17 over a 5-minute stretch in the third quarter. He then had a quieter fourth quarter, only registering an assist to Niel Giffey that made it 78-74 before drawing the late foul and sinking the game-winning shots.

Next week

ALBA Berlin goes on the road next week to face AS Monaco on Tuesday knowing a win secures its place in the quarterfinals. Rytas visits the Serbian capital on Wednesday to face Partizan NIS Belgrade knowing a loss ends it quarterfinals hopes.

Luke Sikma - ALBA Berlin (photo Andreas Knopf - ALBA) - EC18
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Eurocupbasketball.com
Referees: PASTUSIAK, PIOTR; BALAK, AMIT; NIKOLIC, UROS
Attendance: 7277
By Quarter1234
ALBA Berlin25142721
Rytas Vilnius27301315
End of Quarter1234
ALBA Berlin25396687
Rytas Vilnius27577085
ALBA Berlin
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 SAIBOU, JOSHIKO 17:08 4 2/4 0/2 0/2 1 1 2 2   1     2 1  
5 GIFFEY, NIELS 22:52 10 2/3 2/5   1 4 5 3   1     1 1 13
10 SCHNEIDER, TIM DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
15 HERMANNSSON, MARTIN 24:06 25 2/4 6/8 3/4   2 2 2   3     2 2 21
22 WAGNER, FRANZ 15:44 5 2/2 0/2 1/1   4 4           3 2 6
25 OGBE, KENNETH 4:13               1         1    
31 GIEDRAITIS, ROKAS 28:23 16 1/3 4/6 2/2   5 5 2 1       2 2 20
32 THIEMANN, JOHANNES 3:04 2 1/1                         2
33 CLIFFORD, DENNIS 12:20 2 1/3       1 1     1   1 1   -2
35 NNOKO, LANDRY 21:25 6 3/6     3 4 7 1   2 1   3 3 10
43 SIKMA, LUKE 30:08 9 2/4 0/3 5/6 4 1 5 7   2     4 5 14
44 PENO, STEFAN 20:37 8 4/9     1 4 5 5 1 1     3 4 14
Team           3 1 4               4
Totals 200:00 87 20/39 12/26 11/15 13 27 40 23 2 11 1 1 22 20 102
        51.3% 46.2% 73.3%
Head coach: GARCIA RENESES, AITO
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 10:08 3 1/1 0/2 1/2   3 3 2         2 2 5
3 KRAMER, CHRIS 17:18 7 2/5 1/3   1   1 3 1       4 1 4
6 STIPCEVIC, ROK 22:42 12 1/1 2/4 4/4 1   1 6           3 20
7 PARAKHOUSKI, ARTSIOM 26:34 12 4/6   4/6 2 6 8       1   3 4 18
9 PILAUSKAS, AISTIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
11 SEELEY, DENNIS 26:08 14 2/8 3/6 1/1 3 1 4 1         3 3 10
13 NORMANTAS, MARGIRIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 ECHODAS, MARTYNAS 22:28 7 2/5   3/4 1 2 3     2   1 1 2 4
18 GIRDZIUNAS, MINDAUGAS 12:46 6 0/1 2/3   1   1 1   2     1   3
22 BENDZIUS, EIMANTAS 30:28 16 1/1 4/10 2/2   2 2 2         3 3 14
23 BLAZEVIC, MAREK DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
51 BUTKEVICIUS, ARNAS 31:28 8 1/5 1/4 3/4 1 6 7 5 3 1     3 4 15
Team             3 3     1         2
Totals 200:00 85 14/33 13/32 18/23 10 23 33 20 4 6 1 1 20 22 95
        42.4% 40.6% 78.3%
Head coach: ADOMAITIS, DAINIUS

Head Coaches

GARCIA RENESES, AITO
ALBA Berlin
"In every game it is possible to win and in every game it is possible to lose. You have to be mentally ready for this. Rytas played very well in the first half and we played bad on defense, allowing 57 points. But we had the character and changed our defense. We had a high percentage on shooting and the whole team showed good energy. The win is very important for qualifying to the next round, but still anything is possible in the last two games."
ADOMAITIS, DAINIUS
Rytas Vilnius
"It was a tough game. Again a good game against ALBA and again we lost, unfortunately. A look at numbers: In the first have we controlled their easy points on defense. But in the second ALBA had 11 offensive rebounds and scored 19 extra points. We also allowed them more fastbreak points in the second half."

Players

HERMANNSSON, MARTIN
ALBA Berlin
"We needed something, we needed some spark to get us going and if it wasn't going to be me, then who else? Somebody needed to step up, especially with Peyton out. I just took the shots that were open, started feeling it and kept going. I think we came a little bit too cocky into the first half after our good game against Frankfurt [in the German League] and we knew that they lost pretty bad in Lithuania, but we can't come out like this. We have to be better, we have to be more sharp, and you can see, when we played our basketball in the second half, it's hard to stop us... I tried to find the balance in the fourth quarter because I knew they were going to step out a little bit more and I tried to find the shooters. I'm just happy with the win. We needed this one so bad."
GIEDRAITIS, ROKAS
ALBA Berlin
"In the third quarter, we played how we want. I cannot say what Coach said [at halftime], because it's a secret! For sure it was emotional [for me] because that was my ex-team and I'm happy that we won the game."
SEELEY, DENNIS
Rytas Vilnius
"I can't tell you exactly what made the difference. They got a call for shooting a three. Maybe that made the difference? The offensive rebound was a key factor. I gotta look at the tap to tell you exactly what went wrong, but it was a great game against a great opponent."
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