Rytas, who suffocated Lietkabel, won for the tenth time in a row / News

Vilnius Rytas (17-5), which filled the match’s rivals with three points, achieved the tenth consecutive victory in the Lithuanian Basketball League (Betsafe-LKL).

Giedrius Žibėnas students at home 81:67 (21:22, 15:23, 18: 6, 27:16) registered Panevėžys basketball players “Lietkabelis” (15-8).

Both teams have competed against each other twice before this season. Lietkabelis won the first game at home on December 12 (78:59), and Rytas enjoyed the second victory at the Jeep Arena on January 30 (78:72).

Today, Vilna’s neighbors, who defended their native strength, further consolidated their positions in second place in the standings and beat Juventus, who played more in one match and reached the third step (16-7).

The people from Panevėžys who lost at that time are still fourth.

The match was better started by the guests, who started 6: 0 early in the second half and gained a 7-point lead after Paulius Valinskas’ long throw (28:21).

Lietkabelis also finished the first half of the game more successfully, taking 11 points (45:34) after Kyle Vinales’ two-point lead.

At the beginning of the third quarter, the Vilnius team returned to the match, staging a 10: 2 streak and after Arnas Butkevičius’s colon breathed on the opponents back (46:47). Rytas finished the fourth with another 8: 2 and held a 3-point lead (54:51).

The hosts started the deciding quarter better, finishing 6: 0 and gaining a 9-point lead after Augustas Marčiulionis’ three-point lead (65:56). The Vilnius team finally broke the guests 3 minutes earlier, when Girdžiūnas scored three straight three points and “Rytas” escaped by 16 points (74:58).

Rytas won the second half of the match 45:22.

Butkevičius scored the most useful winners, scoring 14 points (4/4 dvit., 2/3 trit.) In 26 minutes, he bounced 6 and took 1 ball, made 4 assists, made a mistake once, blocked 2 pitches and scored 25 utility points.

He was assisted by Girdžiūnas, who was furious in the fourth quarter and scored 17 points (1/3 doubles, 5/6 trit.), 4 assists, 4 errors, 5 fouls and 15 utility points in 32 minutes.

Viñales’ successful performance did not save the guests from defeat. The American scored 22 points (7/12 dvit., 1/6 trit., 5/5 penalties) in 35 minutes, bounced and seized 1 ball, made 6 assists, made 3 errors, caused 7 fouls and accumulated 22 Utility points. .

After the match at the press conference, Vilnius strategist Žibėnas emphasized the bad first half of the match, but said he did not feel anxious during the long break.

Lietkabelis was very well prepared for the match and the same scenario was repeated for us for the second time in a row. Giedrius Žibėnas, the Rytas helmsman, started the press conference. – We connect the fifth way when we are in the role of laggards. But during the long break we didn’t panic, we argued in the locker room that we are not throwing our good shots and we are too soft on defense. Lietkabelis played the first part as he wanted and as he was ready.

In the second part of the game we entered with a very good mentality, we handled it on defense, they scored only 6 points (during the third part). We forced them to throw very awkward pitches, which resulted in a very tough fight for the ball and we won it 42-27. The players did a good job, they just wanted the victory not to be too deep, because it’s all about the next match, ”Žibėnas said.

At the time, after the defeat, Lietkabelis boss Coach Chanakas highlighted an extremely poor performance in the second half of the match.

“Congratulations to the morning. We played the tragic second half of the game, not controlling anything. We knocked down 15 fewer rebounds than our opponents, made 10 mistakes in the second half. Tragic throwing decisions. We didn’t realize that after every picnic they traded defenders. It is a painful defeat for us, but we have to fight, “shared the strategist.

“Tomorrow”: Mindaugas Girdžiūnas 17 (5/6 trit., 4 res., 4 bl.), Arnas Butkevičius (6 res., 4 res. 25) and Ivanas Buva (6/8) dvit., 5 rep., 5 ch.) After 14, Dovis Bičkauskis (4/6 AD, 4 res., 3 per.) And Lukas Uleckas (2/5 trit.) After 8, Gytis Radzevičius 7 (8th chamber).

Lietkabelis: Kyle Vinales 22 (7/12 double, 1/6 trit., 5/5 penalty, 6 res.), Gytis Masiulis 14 (2/4 trit., 9 reb., 5 bl.), Vytenis Lipkevičius and Djordje Gagičius after 8.

Match summary:

Coach Comments: