Zalgiris captures Lithuanian League crown

Zalgiris Kaunas is the Lithuanian League champion for the 25th time after holding off archrival Rytas Vilnius 76-69 on Saturday to win their best-of-five series 3-2. After losing in the finals a year ago, Zalgiris prevailed in what many are calling the best Lithuanian finals series ever.

Rytas won the series opener in double-overtime in Kaunas before Zalgiris took Game 2 in the Lithuanian capital. Rytas won again on the road in Game 3 and led by 14 in the fourth quarter at home in Game 4 before Zalgiris stormed back to win on Sylvain Francisco's late three-pointer.

In Game 5, Rytas led by double figures in the third quarter and went into the fourth quarter up 5. With the game on the line, Ignas Brazdeikis scored 8 points in a 14-4 run to finish the game and lift Zalgiris to the championship. Francisco led Zalgiris with 15 points and 7 assists in Game 5 and was named Finals MVP after averaging 22 points and 5.4 assists for a PIR of 23.2 in the series.

Brazdeikis finished the series-decider with 14 points and Edgaras Ulanovas added 13. Ązuolas Tubelis and Parker Jackson-Cartwright paced Rytas with 16 points apiece.