Zalgiris Kaunas grabbed its second road win of the season by downing Valencia Basket at La Fonteta on Friday night. Valencia led 71-67 in the closing stages, but Zalgiris rallied late to win the game.
Zalgiris outlasts Valencia to grab sixth win
The visitors edged Valencia 76-80 to improve to 6-4 in the standings, while the hosts are now 4-6. Rolands Smits paced Zalgiris with 19 points, with Keenan Evans adding 18 while Ignas Brazdeikis contributing 13. Chris Jones had 19 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 steals for Valencia, and James Webb, Jared Harper and Klemen Prepelic also scored a double-digit number of points with 15, 12 and 10, respectively.
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Webb stepped up early with a couple of three-pointers and a reverse slam, getting help from Jones and Bojan Dubljevic to give Valencia a 27-17 lead. Lukas Lekavicius helped keep Zalgiris's head above away, and Arnas Butkevicius's three-point play got the guests within 31-29. Jones and Jasiel Rivero allowed Valencia to restore a 44-37 margin at halftime. An unstoppable Jones kept pacing the hosts after the break, but Smits kept Zalgiris within 50-42. Bradzeikis got the guests even closer, 53-51, soon after that. Harper and Xabi Lopez-Arostegui found answers from beyond the arc to keep Valencia in charge, 61-59, after 30 minutes. A 7-0 run that Prepelic capped with a triple gave Valencia a 71-67 lead with over 4 minutes left. Then, Tyler Cavanaugh had 5 points in a 0-9 run that put Zalgiris ahead for good, 71-77, before Edgaras Ulanovas sealed the deal from the foul line.