Edgaras Ulanovas and Arnas Butkevicius hit clutch shots late as the Lithuanian side moves to 2–0, having downed both of last year's EuroLeague finalists
Zalgiris vets stepped up against Fenerbahce to cap off perfect double week
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Regular Season
Round 2 of 38
Regular Season
Zalgiris KaunasZAL
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Fenerbahce Beko IstanbulFBB
Overview
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All the ingredients were in place for a classic EuroLeague night in Kaunas. Zalgirio Arena was rocking as Zalgiris Kaunas hosted defending EuroLeague champion Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, with emotions running high both on and off the court.
Fenerbahce head coach – and Zalgiris legend – Sarunas Jasikevicius returned to his hometown for the first time as a EuroLeague-winning coach. Having lifted the trophy four times as a player, he’s now added one as a coach with Fenerbahce. On the opposite bench stood Tomas Masiulis, his former assistant and longtime friend, now leading Zalgiris after leaving Jasikevicius’s staff. Unlike Jasikevicius, Masiulis won the EuroLeague title as a player with Zalgiris back in 1999.
“He is my mentor and my friend. Without him, I wouldn’t be here,” Masiulis said after the game. “I am very happy and will always be thankful to him. In these two hours we were enemies, but we are very good friends.”
With all the emotion, history, and a world-class atmosphere, the game lived up to expectations. Zalgiris came out firing, led by an electric start from Nigel Williams-Goss to grab a 29–20 lead after the first quarter. The hosts maintained their momentum, extending the gap to 67–53 early in the fourth quarter on a wild layup by Sylvain Francisco.
But as champions do, Fenerbahce punched back. Wade Baldwin took over the game, hitting big shot after big shot to drag the visitors back into contention. The explosive guard finished with 36 points – just two short of his career high – and by the time he buried his fifth three-pointer, Fenerbahce had completed the comeback, edging ahead 74–75.
Down 75–76 in the closing minutes and seemingly on the ropes, Zalgiris turned to its veterans. Team captain Edgaras Ulanovas calmly knocked down a three-pointer to reclaim the lead. Baldwin responded with another tough jumper, but Arnas Butkevicius answered with an even bigger shot: a corner three that put Zalgiris up 82–79 inside the final minute. Mikael Jantunen followed with a basket, and Williams-Goss iced the game at the free throw line. Nicolo Melli missed the final shot, sealing a dramatic win for the home side.
Ulanovas scored all 7 of his points in the fourth quarter, while Butkevicius’s only basket of the game was the decisive one.
“It is a great team victory,” Masiulis said. “It’s important for our new coaching staff and for the players to believe in what we’re doing. I think it gives us a little confidence, but we still have to walk on the ground and focus on the next game. We’ll celebrate tonight and get back to work tomorrow.”
He also gave credit to Baldwin’s brilliant performance: “In the beginning, our strategy was to give him some shots, but he got hot and was very difficult to stop. Maybe we should have adjusted earlier, but in the end, we won this game as a team.”
Zalgiris now sits at 2–0, having opened the season with a road win over last year’s finalists AS Monaco before knocking off the defending champs. The Lithuanian side will look to carry that momentum into back-to-back road games against FC Bayern Munich on October 10 and Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade on October 14.