Down slightly after each of the first two quarters, the hosts delighted the home crowd by coming back to beat a higher-placed Group B visitor.
Lietkabelis battles back, downs Ulm 94-90 for crucial win



7bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys boosted its playoffs chances with an exciting comeback victory, 94-90, over ratiopharm Ulm on Tuesday. Lietkebelis improves to 4-7 in Group B while Ulm drops to 8-4. After a closely contested first half, Ulm pulled ahead early in the third, but a double technical foul against point guard Juan Nunez proved costly and Lietkabelis grabbed the momentum to take the lead and seal a big win. Paulius Valinskas led the winning team with 24 points and 10 assists on his return from injury, while Gediminas Orelik scored 17 and Deivydas Sirvydas added 16. The outstanding Karim Jallow pushed Ulm's challenge with 24 points and 4 steals.
Game Videos
Back and forth first the first two quarters
Martynas Varnas capped a 5-0 run to give Lietkabelis an early lead, and Sirvydas protected the lead with the game’s first triple. Two inside scores from Jallow kept Ulm close, but Sirvydis netted another three-pointer to make it 16-10. Georginho De Paula struck from deep as Ulm fought back, and Tobias Jensen’s deep strike made it 18-19 after 10 minutes.
Valinskas started and finished an 11-2 run, also featuring a triple from Stefan Bircevic, as Lietkabelis surged ahead, 29-22. A three-point play from Philipp Herkenhoff restarted Ulm, and a layup from Trevion Williams pulled it back to 32-32. Orelik netted from deep as Lietkabelis rallied, but Jallow scored consecutive baskets before Nunez and LJ Figueroa hit triples to make it 43-47 at the break.
Lietkabelis made its move and held on
The second half started with three scores from Jallow bettering another triple from Orelik, making it 49-54. Jallow stayed hot with another three-ball, but Nunez was ejected for consecutive technical fouls. Nicolas Bretzel scored inside to protect Ulm’s lead, but Liutauras Lelevicius and Valinskas struck from deep to tie it, 62-62, and 4 points from Nikola Popovic made it 68-65 through three quarters.
Three-pointers from Dziugas Slavinskas and Bircevic stretched the host’s lead , 74-67. Sirvydas also scored from deep, before Jallow gave Ulm hope with a three-point play. Another three-ball, this time from Valinskas, gave Lietkabelis the game’s first double-digit lead, 82-72. Three-pointers from Thomas Klepeisz and Jansen sparked Ulm, and the visitors kept pushing as Jallow scored twice, making it 87-86. But Popovic and Sivrydas netted from close-range, and the host held on in a tight finish.