Bayern's fifth straight win gives it a share of first place
Bayern holds off Zalgiris 77-74 to climb atop the table

FC Bayern Munich continued its roll through the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague by surviving 77-74 over previous league leaders Zalgiris Kaunas to grab a share of first place with its fifth straight victory. Bayern never trailed though it nearly wasted a 14-point fourth-quarter lead, which Zalgiris cut to 1 point in the closing moments. Bayern moved to 6-2 and 4-0 at home with previous wins over Real Madrid, Paris Basketball and Olympiacos Piraeus.
Carsen Edwards led the way with 24 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, Devin Booker shrugged off early foul trouble for 15 points and Andreas Obst chipped in 12 points and 7 rebounds. Zalgiris had won its last five games but dropped to 6-2. Sylvain Francisco poured in 16 of his 20 points in the final 8 minutes but they were not enough and Edgaras Ulanovas picked up 15 points in the loss. Zalgiris’s new addition from the NBA, Lonnie Walker, was scoreless with 8 missed shots and 2 turnovers in 13 minutes.
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Bayern went to Booker for the first two scores for a 4-0 lead. At the other end, Walker started the game but missed his first three shots and was subbed out. His replacement Deividas Sirvydis finally got Zalgiris on the board with a three-pointer after more than 4 minutes. Three-pointers from Obst, Shabazz Napier and Edwards left Bayern ahead 16-5 with less than 2 minutes to go as Zalgiris’s offense struggled with absolutely no rhythm. Edwards added another triple and Bayern led 19-6. In the first 10 minutes, Zalgiris made just 2 of 14 shots (1 of 11 three-point attempts) and trailed 19-7.
Teenager Ivan Kharchenkov started the scoring for Bayern in the second quarter and increased the lead to 14 points. Zalgiris finally started to get some scores with Ulanovas and Dovydas Giedraitis both picking up 5 points and getting the deficit to 26-17. A Sirvydis three-pointer had Zalgiris within 8 points only to see Bayern rush away for the next 6 points and the cushion was 36-22. Zalgiris managed a little push at the end of the first half including a Brady Manek triple to trail 38-28 at the break.
Laurynas Birutis put in the first basket of the second half to once again get the margin to 8 points. Bayern needed nearly 2 minutes to score but Edwards tallied 5 more points and the home side led 45-32. Bayern dominated the offensive glass and got shot after shot after shot. Obst drained another long ball and Bayern was up 50-34. Zalgiris tried to fight back with 2 triples from Lukas Lekavicius but the visitors were still down 58-47 after 30 minutes.
An Obst triple gave Bayern the lead 61-47 to start the fourth quarter. Bayern failed to score for the next 3 minutes and Zalgiris scored the next 7. Francisco knocked down a triple and Ulanovas converted a three-point play and the lead dwindled to 66-62 with under 4 minutes to go. Zalgiris just kept charging back with another Francisco three-pointer and it was 68-67 after a free throw each from Matthew Mitchell and Bryant Dunston. Nick Weiler-Babb and Edwards came up big for Bayern with layups to lead 72-68 with 68 seconds to go. Edwards finished the game with a breakaway layup and 2 free throws in the final 30 seconds - even though Francisco hit 2 more three-pointers in the last 26 seconds. Manek had a chance to force overtime but his three-point attempt at the buzzer was off-target.