The Zalgiris guard scored 11 fourth-quarter points to spark the Lithuanian champs.
Evans's late heroics led Zalgiris to road win
Zalgiris Kaunas survived a thriller to end a four-game road losing streak in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, edging Valencia Basket 79-84 at La Fonteta to go up to 6-14 in the standings.
Zalgiris had full control of the game in the first half, leading by as many as 9 points and holding a 40-48 edge near halftime. Valencia bounced back in the third quarter, improving its defense and running its offense through former Zalgiris center Brandon Davies. It held a 66-62 lead with 8 minutes left when star guard Keenan Evans returned to the floor to make things happen down the stretch.
Evans was simply unstoppable until the final buzzer. He followed Rolands Smits's basket with a steal and a three-pointer that saw Zalgiris regain the lead in a critical moment, 66-67. Evans went on to get another steal and draw an unsportsmanlike foul from Justin Anderson, make both free throws and find Brady Manek for a corner three-pointer and a 68-72 Zalgiris lead.
Valencia was far from done, as Semi Ojeleye had 6 unanswered points to put the hosts ahead again, 74-72. It would be the hosts' final lead of the game, as Evans made sure Zalgiris entered crunch time with a great chance to win the game. He buried another three-pointer, and another one, to give Zalgiris a 76-80 lead with 1:14 remaining.
Brady Manek and Edgaras Ulanovas allowed Zalgiris to put the victory on ice, but the guests would not have gotten there without Evans, who finished the game with 24 points on 6 of 9 three-point shooting, 5 assists, 2 steals and a PIR of 23.
"My teammates had confidence in me to send me to handle the ball in those situations. We came out with a victory, had some tough defensive plays but we got the win," Evans said after the game. "We have been kind of struggling with third quarters the entire season but we knew they were going to make a run. They are a great team so we just had to stay together and play the last 20 minutes."
"We know that Keenan [Evans] has the responsibility to make decisions at the end of the game," Ulanovas added after the game. "He scored some great threes but also a lot of credit to our guys for the job on defensive rebounds at the end of the fourth quarter."
Evans had 11 of his 24 points in the final 6 minutes, giving Zalgiris a confidence boost ahead of its next game, against FC Barcelona at Palau Blaugrana on Friday at 20:30 CET.