

Joventut Badalona finished the 7DAYS EuroCup Regular Season in a victorious way after beating 7bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys 81-60 at Palau Olimpic on Wednesday night. The home team had a 14-0 run to start the game and a 7-0 spark to begin the second that built a 20-point margin that Liekabelis could never jeopardize. Joventut improved to 13-5 to finish second in Group B, while Lietkabelis saw its six-game winning streak come to an end and slipped to 10-8 to finish fourth.
Kyle Guy led five Joventut scorers in double-digits with 13 points. Yannick Kraag followed with 12 points, Simon Birgander tallied a double-double of 11 points and 10 boards, Vladimir Brodziansky scored 11, and Pau Ribas provided 10 for the winners. Nikola Popovic set the tone for Lietkabelis with 13 points and 3 rebounds.
Ribas and Kraag got the home team going with 10 points combined that forced a first Lietkabelis timeout after just 2 minutes. Birgander joined the scoring party soon after and Kraag showed up again with a slam to make it 14-0. The visitors ended the drought with a triple from Gedeminas Orelik, but remained totally stuck on offense for the remainder of the quarter, allowing Joventut to keep a comfortable 22-9 lead after 10 minutes.
Things didn’t get any better for the visitors when the game resumed. Brodziansky stepped up with 5 points in a 7-0 spark that established a 20-point advantage, 29-9, early in the second quarter. Lietkabelis managed to avoid a full sinking, though, as Joventut was held scoreless for more than 3 minutes to allow the visitors to stay alive, 31-16. Popovic showed up inside later with 6 points to give Lietkabelis some momentum, and Orelik completed a 4-point play with a tip-in that reduced the margin to single-digits, 37-28, at halftime.
The visiting team got even closer, 37-30, after Popovic opened the third quarter with a bucket, but Joventut reacted quickly by giving the keys to veterans like Ribas and Ante Tomic. The former drilled a three to keep the home team calm and the latter produced 4 points and 2 assists in a 9-2 run that pushed Joventut again, 49-33. A technical foul called on Jamel Morris didn’t help the visitors either, as they trailed 53-35 midway through the third quarter. Lietkabelis tried all sorts of tactics to swing the momentum its way, even a zone defense, but Guy and Pep Busquets were the next ones to take over and give Joventut a 64-42 lead entering the last stanza.
Guy made it 67-42 from behind the arc, and even though Lietkabelis found some points from outside later on, Joventut’s advantage easily remained above the 20-point border until the final whistle.