Dzukija eliminate SIL-King Mindaugas Cup hosts Neptunas in Quarter-Final; Lietkabelis handle Pieno Zvaigzdes

The road to the SIL-King Mindaugas Cup began with an unexpected result in the Quarter-Finals, as Dzukija eliminated the Final Four hosts Neptunas with an 85-77 upset in Klaipeda on Tuesday.

Having come into the game as the clear underdogs, the visitors from Alytus surprised the home side with a strong start and maintained momentum throughout the contest.

Perry Petty paced the winners with 17 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 6 steals and finished the evening with an impressive efficiency ranking of 37.

Nikolaos Stylianou had 20 points for Dzukija and Paulius Petrilevius added 16 points, 9 rebounds and 3 steals.

For Neptunas, Edgaras Zelionis double-doubled with a team-high 13 points and 12 rebounds, Vytautas Sulskis also had 13 points, while Simas Galdikas was the only other player in double figures for the hosts with 12 points.

In the other Quarter-Final of the day, last year's runners-up Lietkabelis handled their business against Pieno Zvaigzdes, coming out on top 86-76 in Panevezys.

Despite falling behind by nine points in the opening quarter, the hosts bounced back in the second period before taking full control of the game after intermission.

Simas Jasaitis posted a game-high 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting for Lietkabelis, while Lorenzo Williams and Ksistof Lavrinovic added 14 and 11 points, respectively.

A 16-point performance put Vyacheslav Bobrov at top of the scorer lists for Pieno Zvaigzdes, while Osvaldas Olisevicius added 15 points and 6 rebounds in a losing effort.

Two more Quarter-Finals will be played on Wednesday, where Dzukija and Lietkabelis will find out their Semi-Final opponents. The club from Alytus will play either against Lietuvos Rytas or Juventus, while Lietkabelis will face the winner of the game between Zalgiris and Siauliai.