Metropolitans 92 win a hard-fought battle against Lietkabelis / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: imago images/PanoramiC-Scanpix Credit imago images/PanoramiC-Scanpix

Boulogne Metropolitans 92 (11-5) defeatedLietkabelis Panevezys (8-7) in a hard battle on the court with a final score of 76-69 (20-22, 17-15, 20-17, 19-15).

Player of the Game EFF 26 Will Cummings Points 22 Accuracy 8-15 Rebounds 4 Assists 4

Metropolitans remained in third place in the standings while Lietkabelis fell down to the 5th position and will meet Bolonia Virtus in the playoffs without having a home-court advantage.

Metropolitans couldn’t score a single point during the first four minutes of the last quarter and that let the visitors retake the lead again (58-57).

Vince Hunter responded with 6 consecutive points (63-58), Panagiotis Kalaitzakis answered with a 3-pointer but the French club made another 6-0 run and increased the lead to 8 (69-61) with 3:25 minutes remaining.

Dovydas Giedraitis hit a pair of 3-pointers to keep Lietkabelis' hopes alive (67-71) with 1:22 to go. Tomer Ginat made a very difficult last-second layup on the other end (73-67) and visitors didn't manage to come back.

Will Cummings led Metropolitans with 22 points (7/12 2PT, 1/3 3PT, 5/6 FT), 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, and 26 PIR.

"One very good player of us was ejected and the team was playing more together, fighting. We elevated our intensity and got some steals to make the difference in the last couple of minutes. But I am very proud of what the team has been doing. This is a win we had to fight for, because they are a very good team and had the same goal as us, so we are very happy with it," said Vincent Collet post-game.

On the opposing side, Panagiotis Kalaitzakis was the high-scorer for Lietkabelis, ending with 18 points (2/3 2PT, 3/8 3PT, 5/5 FT), 4 assists, and 15 PIR.

"We had too many turnovers. We didn't execute our offense because we had too many turnovers in a row. We allowed them to get too many easy fastbreak points after our turnovers, that's it," told head coach Nenad Canak after the game.

Metropolitans 92:Will Cummings 22, Vince Hunter 19 (8 REB), Jordan McRae 15, Tomer Ginat 10 (5 REB).

Lietkabelis: Panagiotis Kalaitzakis 18 (4 AST), Dovydas Giedraitis 15, Djordje Gagic 10 (6 REB), Vytenis Lipkevicius 9 (4 AST), Gabrielius Maldunas 8 (4 REB).

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