Citadele KMT semifinals: Lietkabelis upsets Rytas, Lauvergne pushes Zalgiris to the final

Home-court advantage did not help Rytas Vilnius in the Citadele King Mindaugas Cup (KMT) final four as Lietkabelis Panevėžys surprised the tournament hosts with a dramatic win 82:80 in the semifinal.

Dovydas Giedraitis drained a contested 2-pointer with 15 seconds remaining to put Lietkabelis up by 3 (81:78). Then both teams exchanged turnovers, and, after a dunk by Arnas Butkevičius, Vytenis Lipkevičius made a free throw to seal the win for his team.

Lipkevičius scored a team-high 16 points, Gediminas Orelik posted 15 points, Giedraitis finished with 12 points for Lietkabelis while Ivan Buva put up 18 points for Rytas.

Lietkabelis will aim for an even bigger upset in the KMT Final where defending champions Žalgiris Kaunas awaits after beating Šiauliai-7bet earlier in the day with 80:68 on the scoreboard.

Joffrey Lauvergne was the main force behind their victorious push with 15 points and 8 rebounds while Tyler Cavanaugh added 13 and Edgaras Ulanovas scored 12 points. For Šiauliai-7bet, Martynas Varnas scored 12 and Paulius Danusevičius had 10 points.