The 2022 ENBL finalist Šiauliai did not wasted time to secure a 79-71 win over Kalev/Cramo on Wednesday, January 4, at the TalTech Spordihoone in Tallinn, Estonia.
Players of the game
Paulius Danusevicius scored 8 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter.
Forward made both free throws with 24 seconds to go for a 79-70 lead.
Danusevičius registered four rebounds and two steals.
Jonas Zohore Bergstedt had 13 points on perfect 6-of-6 shooting and dunking from the field.
Denmark center grabbed nine rebounds, dished out three assists and blocked one shot.
He earned the Douglas award for the best player.
Martynas Varnas scored 17 points in the first half, including a 3-of-4 effort from the three point line.
Arminas Urbutis jumped in with 11 points and five rebounds.
Artur Konontšuk led all scorers with 20 points.
Kalev/Cramo sharpshooter made four of his five three-pointers in the second half.
Oleksandr Kovliar had 15 points and a game high seven assists.
Martin Dorbek scored six points and stole the ball three times.
Key stats
Šiauliai players made 52% of their field goal attempts in the first half, including a 5-of-10 from the deep.
Martynas Varnas was especially deadly as he scored 17 points for a 42-27 lead.
Šiauliai extended lead up to 24 points after a three point shot by Eimantas Stankevičius 66-42.
Kalev/Cramo went on a 11-28 run to cut the gap to seven points 77-70 with 33 seconds to go.
Oleksandr Kovliar drew a foul but Paulius Danusevičius sank both free throws.
The home team made 7-of-16 three pointers in the second half but poor shooting in the first 20 minutes left impact.
Game notes
Kalev/Cramo has a packed schedule in January.
Heiko Rannula`s team will play 11 games in 25 days.
Eight of those games will take place in Tallinn.
Šiauliai played its first game 43 days after the start of the regular season.
Antanas Sireika`s team has a 7-7 record and seventh place in the LKL.
Šiauliai will travel to Lublin the next week and will return to Tallinn at the end of January.
SCHEDULE (local time only)
Wednesday, January 4, Tallinn (GMT+3h)
BC Budivelnyk 73–59 TalTech Optibet
Šiauliai 79–71 BC Kalev/Cramo
Thursday, January 5, Tallinn (GMT+3h)
17:00 TalTech Optibet – Šiauliai
19:30 BC Kalev/Cramo – Budivelnyk
STANDINGS, as of January 4, 2023
Group A
Budivelnyk Kyiv 3-0 (+48)
Zastal Zielona Gora 2-2 (-14)
Kalev/Cramo 2-2 (+34)
Polski Cukier Start Lublin 2-1 (+29)
KB Sigal Prishtina 1-3 (-40)
Šiauliai 1-0 (+8)
TalTech Optibet 0-3 (-65)
Tie-breaker: Kalev/Cramo 1-1, +6; Sigal Prishtina 1-1, +3; Zastal Zielona Gora 1-1, -9.