Late rally lifts Telenet Ostend past visiting Lietuvos Rytas!

Telenet Ostend closed the game on a 13-0 run in the final 4 minutes to grab a 75-69 victory at home over Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius in Group L on Wednesday. Ostend improved to 2-0 thanks to 20 points from John Prince, 18 points from Mateusz Ponitka and 10 from Wes Wilkinson. Rytas dropped to 1-1 despite 19 points on 5 three-pointers from Martynas Gecevicius. Ksistof Lavrinovic added 12 points in the loss and Gediminas Orelik chipped in 12. New acquisition Simas Jasaitis did not play in the game for Lietuvos Rytas.

Ponitka opened the scoring for the hosts and Rytas took its first lead with a Gecevicius three-ball for 2-5. Ponitka pushed Ostend back ahead 6-5 before two Antanas Kavaliauskas free throws made it 6-7. Gecevicius would knock down another three and Vilnius was up 7-14. After 4 free throws by Prince trimmed the gap to 11-16, Orelik nailed a three-pointer for an 11-19 cushion. Ostend climbed back to within 15-19 after 10 minutes. After Mike Moser’s shot from the arc to start the second quarter for Vilnius, Pierre Gillet hit his own for the hosts and Prince’s two foul shots cut the gap to 20-22. But Billy Baron and Gecevicius both knocked down long balls to push the lead to 22-28. Ponitka converted a three-point play and Gillet’s basket knotted the game at 31-31. Ponitka scored again for a 33-31 lead. Another Ponitka score made it 35-33 before Mindaugas Lukauskis hit a three-pointer at the halftime buzzer as Rytas led 35-36 at the break.

Ponitka’s basket to start the second half pushed Ostend back ahead but Orelik nailed 3 three-pointers and Lavrinovic scored as Rytas zoomed ahead 41-47. Jean Salumu answered with a triple and Jared Berggren scored to cut the deficit to 46-47. Zygimantas Janavicius snapped a nearly three-minute scoreless drought to make it 46-49 and then nailed a long ball for a 46-52 Rytas lead. Wilkinson responded with a triple and Guy Muya completed a three-point play to knot the game at 52-52. Lavrinovic punched back with a three-pointer and Gecevicius hit free throws as Rytas went up 52-57 after 30 minutes. Moser made it 52-59 to start the fourth quarter and Gecevicius nailed a triple for a 54-62 cushion. Ponitka responded with a triple and Prince completed a three-point play to get Ostend within 60-62. Gecevicius knocked down another shot from deep and Lavrinovic’s layup gave Rytas a 62-69 lead with 4:10 minutes to play. But that was the start of the end for the guests as Prince sandwiched two layups around a Wilkinson three-pointer to even the game at 69-69. After the visitors’ third straight turnover, Prince hit another basket to give Ostend the lead 71-69. Lietuvos Rytas would miss three straight shots and Wilkinson would throw down a dunk and put back an offensive rebound to complete the 13-0 finish and keep Ostend perfect in the Last 32.