Zalgiris hold off Lietkabelis to stay in pole position

The defending Betsafe LKL champions Zalgiris stayed in pole position after holding off their nearest rivals Lietkabelis on the road in Panevezys, while Siauliai and Juventus celebrated wins lower down in the standings.

The Paulius Jankunas-led visitors from Kaunas outlasted Lietkabelis 70-66 in a low-scoring duel between the teams at the top of the table to move to an 11-1 mark, with the home side falling one win behind.

Only a pair of points separated the teams with a couple minutes on the game clock at 68-66, but both sides found scoring the ball a difficult task and a pair of free-throws by Arturas Milaknis were enough for Zalgiris to ice the game.

Jankunas collected 11 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter for Zalgiris and Vasilije Micic was the only other Kaunas player in double figures with 10 points and 6 assists.

For Lietkabelis, Zanis Peiners had 17 points, while former Zalgiris guard Adas Juskevicius went 5-of-8 from deep for 16 points against his former club.

Meanwhile, the Antanas Sireika-coached Siauliai finally got their campaign back on track after eight consecutive losses in the domestic championship with a 104-92 win over the struggling Pieno Zvaigzdes.

Evaldas Saulys had a game to remember with 27 points and 5 rebounds, while Laurynyas Birutis and Omar Prewitt chipped in with 16 points apiece. Donatas Sabeckis double-doubled with 14 points and 11 assists.

Latvian guard Arturs Ausejs scored a team-high 20 points for the visitors, while Vyacheslav Bobrov and Steponas Babrauskas collected 19 and 15 respectively.

Siauliaui improved to a 3-9 mark in the standings, while Pieno Zvaigzdes lost for the fourth time in a row and are 4-7 in the table.

Elsewhere, Juventus continued to show signs of an improved game, as they downed Dzukija 92-79 and registered their third win in the last four games after starting the season with eight consecutive losses.

Big man Mindaugas Kupsas has a phenomenal performance, scoring 25 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and drawing 9 fouls for an efficiency index of 36, which equaled his career high.

Juventus captain Arvydas Siksnius added 17 points, Anthony Ireland collected 16 points and 6 assists, while Katin Reinhardt had a team-high 21 points and 6 assists for Dzukija.