Lietkabelis demolish Partizan, celebrate fifth straight EuroCup win / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: K. Kavolėlis Credit K. Kavolėlis

Lietkabelis Panevezys (7-6) crushed Partizan Belgrade (9-5) 93-78 (24-24, 29-13, 17-18, 13-23) capturing their fifth consecutive EuroCup win, while forcing the Serbians to their fourth straight road loss.

Player of the Game EFF 25 Djordje Gagic Points 21 Accuracy 7-9 Rebounds 5 Assists 1

Gediminas Orelik and Djordje Gagic scored 21 points apiece. The Lithuanian forward hit 5/7 three-point shots, which gave his team a big edge in the second quarter when the game was largely decided. Gagic added 5 rebounds, while Panevezys had three more players in double digits.

On the other hand, Partizan were a complete letdown from the beginning of the second quarter. Kevin Panter with 20 points (on 3/5 three-pointers), Rade Zagorac with 16 and Yam Madar, who added 12, stood out on one of the team's worst nights in the season.

After an even (24-24) first quarter, Lietkabelis took their opponents by storm, thanks to a huge partial score of 24-2 that gave the hosts a 22-point lead (48-26) with two minutes remaining in the first half.

Credit K. Kavolėlis

Gediminas Orelik, who had logged 8 points in the first 10 minutes, paved the way for Lietkabelis's offensive storm, which was accentuated by Dovydas Giedraitis's 7 points in that span. At the same time, Gregor Glass was making one turnover after another, ending up with four out of his team's twelve in the first half.

Rade Zagorac (who had 10 points in the first quarter) was held down to zero and the Serbian powerhouse struggled on both ends.

Partizan did well on the offensive glass with 7 boards, but they had no answer to Orelik, who hit 5/7 from deep. If it hadn't been for Kevin Punter, who scored 5 points and cut down the deficit to 16 (37-53), the guests would have been in deeper trouble.

Vitenis Lipkevicius and Panagiotis Kalaitzakis carried the torch for Panevezys in the third quarter, helping Nenad Canak's squad hold on to their double-digit lead.

When Mathias Lessort scored and drew the foul from Kaspars Berzins, making it 68-49 for Lietkabelis, the hosts replied with a 7-0 run that essentially ended the game. The margin skyrocketed to 29 points (78-49) and Zeljko Obradovic could do nothing to turn things around.

Lietkabelis Panavezys: Gediminas Orelik 21 (5/9 FG, 5 REB), Djordje Gagic 21 (7/9 FG, 7/10 FT, 5 REB), Vytenis Lipkevicius 14 (6 REB, 5 AST), Kristupas Zemaitis 11 (8 AST), Panagiotis Kalaitzakis 10 (3 REB, 2 AST, 2 ST).

Partizan Belgrade: Kevin Punter 20 (6/12 FG, 5/5 FT, 3 REB, 2 AST), Rade Zagorac 16 (5/8 FG, 4/4 FT, 3 REB), Yam Madar 12 (5/7 FG), Balsa Koprivica 7, Mathias Lessort 7 (4 REB).

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