Siva paces ALBA past Rytas into second place

It wasn't quite their marathon, 239-point explosion of one year earlier, but the entertainment and the winner were the same as ALBA Berlin outlasted Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius 93-86 on Wednesday in the German capital. ALBA takes over second place in Group C with a 3-1 record while Rytas fell to 1-3. Peyton Siva starred for the winners with a career-high 26 points, 9 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals. Dennis Clifford followed wiht 14 points, while Luke Sikma had a double-double of 10 points and rebounds. Mindaugas Lukauskis had 19 points, Loukas Mavrokefalidis 18 and Martynas Echodas 16 and 9 rebounds for Rytas, which also got a double-double of 12 points, 10 assists from Chris Kramer. After going back and forth on the scoreboard for 20 minutes, a 15-4 third-quarter run by ALBA spelled the difference, but it took Siva's fourth three-pointer with 34 seconds left to seal the deal.

It was back and forth early as Clifford collected 6 quick points inside and Mavrokefalidis 5 from the arc and the free throw line for Rytas. Siva hit ALBA's first triple and Echodas dunked for an 11-11 tie. A succession of slam dunks by Bodgan Radosavljevic, Niels Giffey and Siva shot ALBA in front 19-11, Joshiko Saibou's steal and assist to Tim Schneider helped ALBA keep control, 21-16, after 10 minutes. Rokas Giedraitis and Echodas combined on a four-point possession as Rytas jumped ahead 21-22. Siva and Echodas led their teams to a 25-25 tie that Giedraitis broke with a swish from the corner. Spencer Butterfield and Giedraitis traded threes before Kramer's baskets made it 32-39. Kramer kept scoring and Lukauskis joined him before Akeem Vargas's put-back on the buzzer for ALBA left a 42-45 halftime score in favor of the visitors.

Spencer Butterfield, Clifford and Vargas all got behind the Rytas defense to quickly put ALBA ahead after halftime. A block at one end and triple at the other by the 38-year-old Lukauskis tied it up, but Butterfield and Sikma, on an alley-oop form Stephan Peno, took back ALBA's lead. Travis Peterson hit a triple and 3 free throws as the visitors surged in front again, 52-57. Marius Grigonis had ALBA's answer from deep, then a fastbreak layup and triple in transition by Siva suddenly had the hosts in charge anew at 69-63 after 30 minutes. A Grigonis triple stretched ALBA's lead before Lukauskis buried shots from either corner to keep the guests close. Mavrokefalidis added a layup to his own triple to make it 80-78 with 4:30 to play. A big dunk by Clifford, an alley-oop version by Sikma and Siva's three-point play made it 88-80, but Lukauskis drilled another three with 1:30 left to give his team some hope. Siva wasn't about to let it go, however, and his step-back three with 34 second the final minute made sure the victory stayed in the German capital.