VMU's convincing victory in the match of the week
On Saturday, the second quarterfinal series match was played at the Valdas Adamkus Sports Center, in which the hosts – Vytautas Magnus University basketball players – faced off against Birštonas “Milasta”. VMU celebrated a 94:74 (25:16, 21:26, 27:21, 21:11) victory, leveling the series score (up to 3 wins) – 1:1.
In the first half of the match, the teams played evenly – before the long break, VMU was slightly ahead (46:42). The picture changed dramatically in the third quarter, when the students, having fired up, played a segment 18:5, pulled away (66:49) and no longer allowed the guests to think about victory.
The Birštonas team was most affected by the lost battle for the balls (28, VDU – 39) and as many as 26 points missed due to mistakes.
Kaunas was led to victory by Martynas Kancevičius, who scored 18 points (9 rebounds), J. Liesis – 16 (6 rebounds, 5 assists), E. Anušauskas – 11 (4/6 doubles), D. Uosis – 10 (2/5 triples).
Experienced Mindaugas Lukauskis shone again for "Milasta" - 21 points (3/6 three-pointers, 7 rebounds), I. Bilinskas - 19 (7/9 two-pointers, 6 rebounds), T. Rinkūnas - 11 (3/9 three-pointers).
One step away from the final four – Tauragė
BC Biržai, which had the status of a favorite before the start of the series, found itself at the wall. In the match held in Tauragė, the Biržai team had to admit Tauragė's advantage 55:84 (6:23, 17:23, 17:21, 15:17) and is already behind in the series 0:2.
The Tauragė team punished their opponents from the very beginning of the match, and thanks to their iron defense, they built a double-digit lead (28:8), which only grew. The Biržai team never managed to get back into the match.
The guests completely failed to capitalize on the opportunities they created - their overall shooting rate was just 23% (16/68).
Justas Vazalis stood out for the Tauragė team with 17 points (3/4 from the field), M. Linkevičius – 15 (15 rebounds), Š. Morkevičius – 12 (4 assists), L. Žukauskas – 10 (2/3 from the field).
Only Justas Šukelis scored double-digit points for the Biržai team – 11 (2/11 doubles, 7/9 penalty kicks).
The second participants of the B division final four – Gargždai
On Saturday, another team was revealed in Division B, which in Trakai The winner of the championship title was Gargždai – SC, who defeated Utena’s Dauniškio prekyba – Juventus 79:71 (28:24, 19:12, 19:19, 13:16) away and won the series 2:0.
In the first half of the match, the team from Utena was constantly breathing down their opponents' backs – in the middle of the second half, they were only 33:29 behind. However, after several successful attacks by Gargždai, the gap jumped (47:36).
In the third quarter, the hosts came close again (52:47), but the visitors went on a 12:5 run, regained a double-digit lead (64:52) and held on until the final whistle.
The Utena team made more mistakes (20 errors compared to the opponent's 15) and attacked much worse from long range - only 22%, while Gargždai hit 46% of three-pointers.
The most outstanding player in the Gargždai team was Nikita Sokolov, who scored 21 points (4/8 from the field), T. Augustauskas added 15 (4/8 from the field, 4 assists).
Titas Didžgalvis – 17 points (6 rebounds, 7 assists), T. Mackonis – 16 (3/7 assists, 6 rebounds), J. Vinikas – 11 (4/5 assists) did not save Utenis.
Other results:
Division A
Silalė "Lūšis" 90:94 Raseiniai "Raseiniai" (1 – 1)
Kedainiai Sports Center 103:68 Kupiskis (2 – 0)
