Utena surprise: “Juventus” launched “Žalgiris” with a decisive launch

The Utena Juventus (12/5) team, who have been on the wave recently, presented a considerable sensation: they played against Kaunas Žalgiris (12/2), who played without Marius Grigonis and Thomas Walkup at home.

The Žydrūnas Urbonas students broke the Kaunas team in a dramatic 90:87 fight (22:28, 24:24, 19:24, 25:11), even though they played without one of their leaders – Martynas Gecevičius.

Žalgiris’s team used an extremely wide rotation in the match, with all 12 registered players scoring points. Such a move by M. Schiller can be explained by the fact that Kaunas has played two Euroleague matches in Spain this week.

Žalgiris’s team started the match with three precise 3-pointers, but the hosts also found their way to the basket, leading by 14:11 in the middle of the quarter. Still, Rokas Jokubaitis terrified the opponents defense in the second half of the time and after the first ten minutes “Žalgiris” took the lead – 28:22.

At the beginning of the second quarter, the young talents of the Kaunas team, Paulius Murauskas and Mantas Rubštavičius, appeared on the parquet. Although the green-white attack did not stop, the defense was more difficult (39:36). When the teams went to halftime, the burning numbers on the scoreboard showed the same advantage of the Kaunas residents as after the first half: 52:46.

After the break, the advantage of the Kaunas team reached double digits – 62:52. However, this did not break Utena’s team and after Bryant Crawford’s two-point team only 4 points (64:60). After the match, the Kaunas players moved away again and entered the last quarter with a solid advantage (76:65).

At the beginning of the last quarter, the guests continued to trust P. Murauskas and Karolis Lukošiūnas, but Juventus did not take advantage of it (84:74). However, three successful attacks by Utena returned the intrigue (82:84). Furthermore, after a minute of rest, Martin Geben received the fifth free-kick, and a long shot from Sigismund Skuč put the hosts ahead (85:84). One minute from the end, Joffrey Lauvergne tied the score – 87:87, but the decisive word came from Vaidas Kariniauskas – 90:87.

„Juventus“: Sigismund Skučas 20, Vaidas Kariniauskas 18, Vytautas Šulskis 14, Bryantas Crawfordas 11, Marius Runkauskas 9, Mindaugas Kupšas and Gintautas Matulis 8 each, Ignas Vaitkus 2.

„Žalgiris“: Rokas Jokubaitis and Lukas Lekavičius after 13, Joffrey Lauvergne 9, Paulius Jankūnas and Martin Geben after 8, Augustine Rubitas 7, Artūras Milaknis and Steve Vasturia after 6, Karolis Lukošiūnas, Mantas Rubštavičius and Nigel Hayes after 5, Paulius Murauskas 2 .