Juventus surprise Neptunas in Klaipeda; Lietuvos Rytas and Lietkabelis add wins

A short-handed Juventus Utena came away with a surprise victory in Klaipeda, beating Neptunas 91-87 in overtime on Saturday action in the Betsafe LKL despite Anthony Ireland and Arvydas Siksnius falling out of the rotation with injuries shortly before the game.

The Zydrunas Urbonas-coached side improved to a 10-18 record and moved to 7th place in the league table with a win that ended a six game losing streak in the domestic championship.

Juventus were led by the trio of Mindaugas Kupsas, Dovis Bickauskis and Simas Buterlevicius who combined for 66 points.

Kupsas double-doubled with 27 points and 14 rebounds, Bickauskis collected 22 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists and 4 steals, while Buterlevicius played all 45 minutes and finished the game with 17 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists.

For Neptunas, Laimonas Kisielius was the top scorer with 22 points and 6 assists, while Edgaras Zelionis and Renaldas Seibutis chipped in with 17 and 16 points, respectively.

There were no surprises in the two other games on Saturday in the Betsafe LKL with Lietuvos Rytas triumphing against Dzukija in Alytus and Lietkabelis beating Vytautas in Prienai.

Dzukija did well to give Lietuvos Rytas a solid challenge, but eventually fell 81-73 after the visitors from the capital pulled away in the closing minutes of the game, with Rokas Giedraitis leading the charge with a game-high 17 points.

Loukas Mavrokefalidis and Martynas Echodas had 14 points each for the winners, while Ben Madgen chipped in with 13 of his own.

Having collected 13 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists, Dzukija playmaker Parrish Petty flirted with a triple-double. His backcourt partner Charles Callison also had 13 points, while Povilas CUkinas was the only other player in double figures with 11 points.

Meanwhile, Lietkabelis cruised to a 91-76 victory against the last-placed Vytautas side. The guests from Panevezys won every single quarter and always looked like the more likely team to come out on top.

Vaidas Cepukaitis had 16 points and 8 rebounds in a winning effort, while Darjus and Ksisitof Lavrinovic added 14 and 13 points, respectively. Lietkabelis crushed their opponents on the glass, outrebounding the home side 42-26.

Team captain Eigirdas Zukauskas scored a team-high 14 points for Vytautas, Egidijus Dimsa had 12 points, with Rashaun Broadus chipping in with 11. LaMelo Ball had 5 points in 4 minutes, while LiAngelo Ball collected 3 points in 21 minutes.