2016-17Regular SeasonRound 20
January 27, 2017 CET: 18:45
Local time: 20:45 VOLKSWAGEN ARENA
Kevin Pangos - Zalgiris Kaunas - EB16

Zalgiris storms into playoff picture with win at Darussafaka

Zalgiris Kaunas battled its way back into the playoff picture with a 66-69 road win over Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul at Volkswagen Arena on Friday night. The Lithuanian champs improved to 8-12 and a share of 10th place, while Darussafaka fell to 10-10 and is in eighth, the final spot that leads to the playoffs. Kevin Pangos led the winners with 14 points, including a clutch three-pointer with 90 seconds to go that helped keep Darussafaka at bay. Augusto Lima added 11 points for Zalgiris, which outrebounded Darussafaka 28-35. Zalgiris made 50% of its 16 three-point tries, but the real key to victory was its defense, which kept Darussafaka out of rhythm and saw the home side shoot at subpar numbers from all ranges (38.5% on two-pointers, 33.3% on threes and 67.9% on free throws). Brad Wanamaker led Darussafaka with 17 points, 8 assists and 3 steals and Dairis Bertans added 13 points off the bench.

Both teams scored on their maiden possessions, but soon the offenses were slowed and the scoreboard showed 5-4 after five minutes. Leo Westermann sandwiched a pair of threes around an assist to put the visitors ahead 5-12. The hosts closed the gap through outside shots and tied it at 14-14 on a Furkan Aldemir slam. Lukas Lekavicius’s jumper left Zalgiris ahead, 14-16, after 10 minutes. A Bertans triple to start the second half put the hosts in front and the lead changed hands on each of the next few possessions. With Antanas Kavaliauskas scoring, rebounding and even assisting in the paint, Zalgiris climbed in front 24-28 midway through the second quarter. Darussafaka twice came within 1 through three-pointers, but Zalgiris seemed to have the answers and Edgaras Ulanovas’s jumper made it 31-38 at halftime. Three times Zalgiris led by as many as 8 points, before a run of 5 free throws drew Darussafaka within 44-47. Luke Harangody missed a three that would have given Darussafaka the lead; instead Zalgiris scored the next 6 points to regain the 8-point advantage. Wanamaker’s layup on the buzzer made it 49-55 through three quarters. Lekavicius’s baseline drive gave Zalgiris its biggest lead, 51-60. Darussafaka continued to claw its way back and after free throws by Wanamaker, it was 60-64 with two minutes to go, but then Harangody missed 2 free throws and Pangos connected from downtown at the other end to all but seal the outcome.

Friday, January 27, 2017
Euroleague.net
Referees: CHRISTODOULOU, CHRISTOS; ROCHA, FERNANDO; PANTHER, ANNE
Attendance: 4578
By Quarter1234
Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul14171817
Zalgiris Kaunas16221714
End of Quarter1234
Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul14314966
Zalgiris Kaunas16385569
Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
3 ARSLAN, ENDER DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
4 YAGMUR, MEHMET 2:44     0/1             1     1   -3
8 BATUK, BIRKAN 17:01 3   1/3     1 1   1 2     1    
11 WANAMAKER, BRAD 37:16 17 3/7 2/5 5/6   1 1 8 3 2     3 5 21
12 CLYBURN, WILL 26:13 9 2/7 0/2 5/10 1 1 2 1 2 1   2 2 7 4
18 MOERMAN, ADRIEN 28:46 7 1/4 1/4 2/2   9 9           2 3 11
19 ALDEMIR, FURKAN 11:40 6 3/5     3 2 5           1   8
21 SAVAS, OGUZ DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
23 ANDERSON, JAMES 26:00 4   1/5 1/2         2 1     1 1  
41 ZIZIC, ANTE 19:21 4 1/2   2/2 2 2 4     2 1   1 2 7
45 BERTANS, DAIRIS 17:37 13   3/5 4/4       2 1 2     5 3 10
81 HARANGODY, LUKE 13:22 3 0/1 1/2 0/2 4 1 5           2 3 5
Team           1   1     1          
Totals 200:00 66 10/26 9/27 19/28 11 17 28 11 9 12 1 2 19 24 63
        38.5% 33.3% 67.9%
Head coach: BLATT, DAVID
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
Zalgiris Kaunas
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
3 PANGOS, KEVIN 21:37 14 2/4 3/7 1/2 1   1 3   2     5 3 7
4 LEKAVICIUS, LUKAS 18:32 6 3/5 0/1     2 2 4 1 3     1   6
6 VALINSKAS, PAULIUS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
9 WESTERMANN, LEO 13:20 6   2/2     2 2 3   2         9
10 SEIBUTIS, RENALDAS 23:46 2 1/4       4 4 2 1     1 4 1 2
12 MOTUM, BROCK 19:33 5 1/3 1/1     1 1 2 1 1     2 1 5
13 JANKUNAS, PAULIUS 26:07 6 1/6 0/1 4/4 3 5 8     1     2 7 12
15 JAVTOKAS, ROBERTAS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 MILAKNIS, ARTURAS 17:49 8 1/2 2/2     2 2           4   5
23 LIMA, AUGUSTO 20:56 11 4/8   3/4 1 3 4 1 1   1   2 3 14
44 KAVALIAUSKAS, ANTANAS 13:15 5 1/1   3/4 1 2 3 2   4     2 2 5
92 ULANOVAS, EDGARAS 25:05 6 2/4 0/2 2/2 1 1 2 1   2 1   2 2 4
Team           2 4 6     1         5
Totals 200:00 69 16/37 8/16 13/16 9 26 35 18 4 16 2 1 24 19 74
        43.2% 50% 81.3%
Head coach: JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS

Head Coaches

BLATT, DAVID
Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul
"Congratulations to the Zalgiris team. Obviously that’s a tough loss for us. We had our chances. I think that at the end of the day there are certain things that in a game like that you have to do. We went to the foul line 28 times and missed 9 of them. That’s something you can’t afford in a close game. And I would say three or four or maybe five times we simply made unforced errors like travelling, and mistakes of that nature that take away valuable possessions where you have a chance to score the ball. And we didn’t and it cost us. We have to just buckle down and come back and go find some wins in the next nine, 10 games. We had a lot of good shots that we didn’t make. As a coach that’s not something that I can complain about. I would complain more if we didn’t get shots, if we didn’t move the ball, if we didn’t get looks, but honestly we did. We just didn’t knock them down. "
JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS
Zalgiris Kaunas
"It was a great effort by our guys. They were fighting like crazy, with a lot of mental mistakes, but fighting like crazy. So this is most-important. Obviously as we know, it’s not so easy to win here. I think our club has two wins in the same week for the first time since we beat Efes Pilsen to go to the EuroLeague title [in 1999], so it’s a great feeling and we hope to keep it going. "

Players

BERTANS, DAIRIS
Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul
"It’s obviously a tough loss because we were hoping to get this win at home after previously losing to Anadolu Efes early this week. But all game they played really aggressive against us. Our defense was pretty solid, we held them to 69 points, but we just couldn’t make our offensive plays."
YAGMUR, MEHMET
Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul
"That was one of our target games, but we started the game quite softly. We were just unable to focus on the game and that cost us the win. We will keep on working and try to get the much needed wins on our way to the playoffs."
PANGOS, KEVIN
Zalgiris Kaunas
"I thought we did a good job. We had some lapses where we didn’t play so well and didn’t stick to the game plan, but I think overall we did pretty well and grinded out the win. We tried to guard them as a team. Any time they got in transition or tried to drive, we tried to have them see a lot of bodies. We tried to guard them as a team and it worked. "
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