2015-16Last 32Round 6
February 09, 2016 CET: 20:00
Local time: 20:00 MERCEDES-BENZ ARENA
Robert Lowery - ALBA Berlin - EC15 (photo ALBA Berlin - Camera4)

Lowery leads ALBA Berlin over Neptunas and into eighthfinals

ALBA Berlin clinched a berth in the Eurocup Eighthfinals on Tuesday with a 76-62 victory over visiting Neptunas Klaipeda. Robert Lowery starred with 24 points, 3 assists and 3 steals as ALBA took the win-or-go-home game. The result left ALBA with a 3-3 record and second place in Group J, which Neptunas fell to 2-4 and saw its European campaign come to an end. ALBA will learn its eighthfinals’ opponent on Wednesday when the final games of the Last 32 are finished. An early 10-0 run put the hosts in charge and a 12-0 push to finish the second quarter made it 41-21 at the break. Neptunas fought back to within 10 in the second half, but the outcome was never truly in doubt. Ismet Akpinar added 13 points, Dragan Milosavljevic scored 11 and Alex King hauled in 12 rebounds for the winners. Daniel Ewing paced Neptunas with 17 points and 5 assists, Jerai Grant posted 10 points and 8 rebounds and Travis Bader added 10 points in defeat.

Milosavljevic scored first for the hosts and Donatas Zavackas got Neptunas on the scoreboard with a pair of free throws. Milosavljevic and Will Cherry each hit from downtown – and Cherry dished another 2 assists – in a 10-0 ALBA run that made it 12-2 after less than four minutes of play. After a Neptunas timeout, Ewing led the visitors back with a triple plus assists to Grant on a three-point play and Arnas Butkevicius for a second-chance score. However Kreso Loncar and Lowery traded baskets and assists for the hosts in rebuilding a double-digit edge. Vytautas Sarakuaskas made it 22-14 after 10 minutes. The pace slowed in the second quarter; Akpinar’s triple made it 25-16, but Bader responded with 3 free throws. After Lowery restored a double-digit lead, Grant countered with free throws. However King hit a three and added a jumper and Lowery took a steal in for a layup in a 12-0 charge to finish the half that ignited celebrations at 41-21.

Lowery opened the second half with a three-pointer before Zavackas made a triple for the visitors. Ewing made free throws to start and a triple to end a 0-8 spurt to bring Neptunas within 46-32. A steal by Lowery led to a Milosavljevic layup to put the hosts back ahead by 18. Martynas Mazeika hit free throws, Ewing added another three and Arvydas Siksnius made 2 shots from the line to close the gap to 50-39. Baskets by Elmedin Kikanovic, Lowery and Mitchell Watt put ALBA back in total control. After Sarakauskas and Lowery traded threes, the score stood at 60-42 through three quarters. Ewing nailed a three, Bader drew a foul attempting a three and made the resulting free throws after Loncar committed an unsportsmanlike foul on Grant, who left the color, Zavackas made free throws to get the visitors within 62-52. But Cherry turned a steal into free throws and Lowery nailed a triple to give ALBA a 13-point cushion. Lowery made his fourth three of the game to boost the difference to 72-56 with less than five minutes to go. As the final minutes ticked away, the ALBA players and fans started to celebrate and look forward to a spot in the next stage.

Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Eurocupbasketball.com
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Referees: PUKL,SASA; CORTES, CARLOS; PUTENKO, ILYA
Attendance: 6854 (Tentative)
By Quarter1234
ALBA Berlin22191916
Neptunas Klaipeda1472318
End of Quarter1234
ALBA Berlin22416076
Neptunas Klaipeda14214462
ALBA Berlin
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
6 LOWERY, ROBERT 30:57 24 5/7 4/9 2/2   3 3 3 3 3     3 2 22
7 KING, ALEX 23:42 5 1/1 1/2 0/2 3 9 12 1   2     2 2 13
8 AKPINAR, ISMET 26:32 13 2/4 1/3 6/7 1 2 3 1 1 2     4 4 11
9 KIKANOVIC, ELMEDIN 17:57 6 3/8 0/1     1 1           3 5 3
10 LONCAR, KRESIMIR 19:16 4 2/3 0/1   1 1 2 3   2     3 1 3
11 VARGAS, AKEEM 7:45           1 1           3 1 -1
15 LIYANAGE, MARC DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
18 WOHLFARTH-BOTTERMANN, JONAS 8:17 2 1/3     1 1 2   1       3 1 1
21 MILOSAVLJEVIC, DRAGAN 23:56 11 3/8 1/2 2/2 1 2 3 4 1       1 2 14
22 CHERRY, WILL 15:43 5 0/2 1/3 2/2   1 1 5 1 2     5 1 2
50 WATT, MITCHELL 25:55 6 3/6 0/2   1 4 5   1       1   6
Team           1 1 2               2
Totals 200:00 76 20/42 8/23 12/15 9 26 35 17 8 11 0 0 28 19 76
        47.6% 34.8% 80%
Head coach: OBRADOVIC, SASA
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
Neptunas Klaipeda
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
3 EWING, DANIEL 35:14 17 0/4 4/9 5/6 1 3 4 5   3     1 7 19
6 SIKSNIUS, ARVYDAS 24:44 2 0/1 0/3 2/2 1 3 4 3 1 2     2 2 4
7 MAZEIKA, MARTYNAS 22:07 3 0/3 0/4 3/4   3 3 1 1 4     4 4 -4
13 BADER, TRAVIS 25:28 10 2/3 0/3 6/6   1 1   1 3     2 2 5
15 SARAKAUSKAS, VYTAUTAS 14:07 5 1/1 1/2     1 1   1       2   4
30 BELIAUSKAS, LAURYNAS 0:57     0/1                       -1
41 ZAVACKAS, DONATAS 25:14 9 0/2 1/4 6/6 1 6 7 2   2     3 3 11
44 PLAISTED, TRENT 10:30   0/1       2 2     1     4 1 -3
45 GRANT, JERAI 25:41 10 3/5   4/7 5 3 8 2 1         8 24
49 BIRUTA, GILVYDAS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
51 BUTKEVICIUS, ARNAS 15:58 6 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1 2   1 2     1 1 4
Team           3 4 7     1         6
Totals 200:00 62 7/22 7/28 27/33 12 27 39 13 6 18 0 0 19 28 69
        31.8% 25% 81.8%
Head coach: ADOMAITIS, DAINIUS

Head Coaches

OBRADOVIC, SASA
ALBA Berlin
"There were many things I liked in our game and some I didn’t like, but today the win counted really more than anything else… Especially in our difficult situation, with all our injuries this is a great success. I hope that we get some injured players back in the next round and I am looking forward to an interesting series."
ADOMAITIS, DAINIUS
Neptunas Klaipeda
"This was a really tough game for us. ALBA played very hard defense, especially in the first half. In the first and second quarter, that lead us to 6 turnovers each, what really killed us early on. To come back from minus-20 at halftime is very difficult against a good team like ALBA. The Eurocup season was a good experience for us and now I wish ALBA Berlin good luck for the next round."
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