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The third team of the final four of the Citadele King Mindaugas Cup (Citadele KMT) is already clear. Among the four strongest teams in the tournament, Klaipėda basketball players “Neptūnas” broke out and experienced real drama.
“Neptūnas” in the second leg quarter-final match 77:88 (17:21, 28:22, 14:21, 18:24) lost to Šiauliai, but the pass to the four finalists was guaranteed by the advantage of 15 points accumulated in the first duel (91:76).
Klaipėda residents advanced to the next stage with a total advantage of 4 points and a score of 168: 164.
In the second match in Klaipeda, two halves were point by point, during the long break the teams were separated by two points (45:43). Such a scenario suited the “Neptune” led by Tomas Gaidamavičius, but in the second half the game turned upside down.
Team Šiauliai, which started the impressive third quarter, had a 7-point lead in a few minutes (45:52). The Klaipėda team’s attack stalled, the substitutes’ bench received two technical fouls and Šiauliai ran to victory.
In the last quarter, Šiauliai achieved the necessary advantage of 15 points (61:76). Justas Furmanavičius, who appeared on the field in the second half of the match, started the powerful jet from the guests. The basketball player drew five balls himself and scored 10 points, all in just over 13 minutes.
After awakening, the people of Klaipėda began to defend themselves more intensely and soon reduced their delay to ten (71:81). It is true that this was far from guaranteeing a peaceful end to the match. Elvar Maras Fridriksson scored a three-point foul with 1 minute remaining. 29 sec. He gave Šiauliai back a 14-point lead (71:85). On the other side of the field, Martynas Mažeika caused a foul, taking both free throws (75:85).
Once it looked like the hosts had a ticket to the final four on their hands, Martynas Varnas stabbed another three points (75:88) less than a minute ago and returned intrigue to the series once again. In decisive moments, Klaipėda’s team was saved by captain M. Mažeika, who broke under the basket and scored his team’s last two points. M. Mažeika left Šiauliai for 12 seconds, but M. Varnas’ difficult 3-pointer flew past.
If successful, Šiauliai would have created the second miracle in the Citadele KMT tournament. In the final eighth stage, A. Sireika’s students eliminated the 25-point deficit in the second leg against Alytus “Sintek-Dzūkija”.
Neptune “: Žygimantas Janavičius 15, Matas Jogėla 14, M. Mažeika and Norbertas Giga after 12.
Šiauliai: Kaspars Berzins 16, Arminas Urbutis 14, Martynas Varnas 12, Andy Van Vliet (8 rooms) and Mindaugas Lukauskis 11 each, Justas Furmanavičius 10.
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