The regular season of the Lithuanian Basketball League (Betsafe-LKL) ended with an easy victory over Vilnius “Rytas” (24/6), who 124:89 (35:23, 30:23, 31:27, 28:16) crushed Pasval’s “Milk Stars” (5/25).
The people of Vilnius played the most productive matches of the LKL this season. Until now, the record of 119 points belonged to Utena’s Uniclub Casino – Juventus.
Pasvaliai is last in the standings and will end the season that way, while “Rytas” is second and will face either Mazeikiai “M Basket-Delamode” or Jonavas “Cbet” in the quarterfinals.
RJCole and Justin Gorham led the “Ryto” team forward (13:6), Gytis Radzevičius and Simas Jarumbauskas exchanged three-pointers, and Kadeem Jack and Artis Ate prevented “Ryto” from escaping – 19:24. True, the guests’ attack continued to work commendably, Margiris Normantas also got involved, and after the first quarter “Rytas” led 35:23.
Despite J. Watson’s attempts to keep the hosts in the fight, Lukas Uleckas, M. Normantas and G. Radzevičius scored three points. The latter increased the difference to 16 (50:34), and after the throw of Gytis Masiulis, “Rytas” almost crushed the opponents – 56:37. The difference crossed the 20-point mark after J. Gorham’s layup (60:39), and after the second half the Vilnius team controlled the situation – 65:46.
The gap between the teams only grew (80:54), although J. Watson made a couple of long shots – 62:82. His one active contribution to Pasvalyans was small, Rytas kept control (89:69) and led 96:73 before the last quarter.
“Rytas” allowed Oskars Pleikė and Gantas Križanauskas to enter the field in the last half, and the difference between the teams remained crushing – 105:79. The Vilnius team’s season performance record so far reached 113 points – they managed to improve it.
The season record of the entire LKL was also improved, reaching 119 points. Utena’s “Uniclub Casino – Juventus” had achieved it against the same team from Pasvaly.
“Milk stars”: Jordan Watson 26 (6/10 3-pointers, 5 rebounds), Sims Jarumbauskas (5 rebounds) and Kadeem Jack (5 rebounds) – 17 each, Deante Johnson 10, Artis Ate 8.
“Morning”: Gytis Radzevičius 17 (6 rebounds), Margiris Normantas 16, Justin Gorham and RJCole (8 rebounds) – 14 each, Gantas Križanauskas 12, Marcus Foster 11, Javins DeLaurier 10.
“Long break”: the work of Lithuanian agents, Lithuanians raising the value of LKL, LKF’s ability to “buy” a high-level player, the longevity of basketball players, leaking information from clubs and the possibilities of 3×3 national teams
Tags: Offensive party Rytas broke LKL season record start playoffs
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