Siauliai climb to fifth; Lietuvos Rytas, Neptunas also add wins

Siauliai continued their hot play in the Betsafe LKL, inscribing their third consecutive victory and maintaining their upward momentum in the standings with a 100-79 triumph over Pieno Zvaigzdes.

The Antanas Sireika-coached club improved to a 10-15 record and moved into fifth place after leapfrogging Pieno Zvaigzdes and Juventus, who are now one win behind.

Point guard Donatas Sabeckis orchestrated the proceedings with a 14-point, 16-assist double-double while also adding 4 steals, while Laurynas Birutis and Arminas Urbutis had 18 points each.

For Pieno Zvaigzdes, Nikita Balashov scored a game-high 20 points, Osvaldas Olisevicius went for 18, while Trevon Hughes contributed with 13 points, 6 assists and 6 steals.

Meanwhile, second-placed Lietuvos Rytas and third-placed Neptunas also earned wins on Saturday, defeating Juventus and Vytautas, respectively.

Having gone 17-of-32 from three-point range, Lietuvos Rytas eased to a 104-92 win in Utena with Ben Madgen and Travis Peterson scoring 18 points apiece and Rokas Giedraitis chipping in with 17 points and 8 rebounds.

The short-handed Juventus side were forced to play with an eight-man rotation and never recovered after falling behind 34-24 in the first period.

Anthony Ireland had a team-high 15 points and 6 assists for the hosts, while LaRon Dendy and Kenny Gaines added 14 points each.

Elsewhere, Neptunas kept Vytautas at the bottom of the standings with a 73-65 victory in Klaipeda, as Vytas Sulskis led the way against his former club with 16 points and 6 rebounds.

Tomas Delininkaitis was next in line with 12 points and 4 assists, while Simas Galdikas was just short of a double-double with 9 points and 9 rebounds by his name in the boxscore.

Meanwhile, Justas Sinica had 16 points and 5 boards for Vytautas, LiAngelo Ball collected 12 points but went just 4-of-14 from the field, while Egirdas Zukauskas chipped in with 9 points.

The Prienai-Birstonas club have a 5-20 record and are currently in the relegation zone.