Klaipėda Neptūnas basketball players defeated Utena Juventus by a double-digit margin of 102:84 (27:20, 24:22, 24:21, 27:21) at the Švyturys Arena, under the watchful eye of Utena-born NBA star Jonas Valančiūnas, and kept their hopes of repeating the Klaipėda team's best result - competing in the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) final.
True, before that, the Neptunians still need to defeat the aforementioned Utena team twice in a row, which is demonstrating truly high-quality play and fighting spirit in the decisive stage of this season.
So far, the result of the LKL semifinal series up to three wins is 2:1 in favor of the team from Utena.
Tonight's victory is a great gift from the Neptūnas basketball players to Vaidas Pauliukėnas, assistant to Neptūnas head coach Gediminas Petrauskas, who is celebrating his 47th birthday today.
The fourth match of the series will take place on June 3 (Wednesday) in Utena from 6:30 p.m.
If Neptūnas wins again, then the fifth, decisive, match of the series would take place on June 5 (Friday) at 6:30 p.m. in Klaipėda.
The winner of this pair will face Kaunas Žalgiris in the LKL grand final, which defeated Panevėžys Lietkabelės 3:0 in the other semi-final series.
The losers of this LKL semifinal series will still have a chance to recover in the small final, where they will have to fight against the aforementioned "Lietkabelis". Winning the LKL bronze medals would also be a good result for both Utena and Klaipėda.
Review of the third LKL semi-final match in Klaipėda
The away team started the match a little better, leading 10:5. However, the Latvians of "Neptūnas" quickly equalized the score, and Karlis Šilinis overtook them - 14:12. Zane Waterman and Martynas Pacevičius scored important points for "Neptūnas", which allowed them to lead 27:20 after the first half.
A 6:0 spurt reduced the deficit of Juventus to a minimum (26:27), and Evaldas Šaulys returned the lead to Utena – 30:29. Mindaugas Girdžiūnas started his show – he hit two three-pointers, made a couple more attacks and thus “Neptūnas” jumped ahead – 41:35. Although Paulius Valinskas broke the hunger of Utena, the latter trailed 42:51 after two quarters.
During the two halves, the most prominent players in the home team's game were M. Girdžiūnas (13) and Z. Waterman (12). Maxwell Lewis scored 13 points for the opponents, 12 of which he scored in the first.
Although Šarūnas Beniušis opened the quarter with a layup, Laimonas Eglinskas received a technical foul, and “Neptūnas” gained momentum – 56:44. Rihardas Lomažas provoked a foul by P. Valinskas in attack, while Donatas Tarolis and A. Velička used their chances – 60:44. Thus, the difference grew to a record. Hassanas Diarra hit an emotionally important long-range shot for Utena, and later made free throws, which were accompanied by a two-pointer by Lukas Uleckas – 54:62. With 3 minutes left, L. Uleckas shot from long range (59:65), the teams exchanged free throw series and after three quarters the hosts led 73:63.
M. Lewis and Hassan Diarra tried to create better chances for their team (67:75), but the hosts reacted, stabilizing the situation after A. Velička's three-pointer - 81:68. Later, two more of his long shots reached the goal (87:68), while P. Valinskas' match ended due to fouls.
With half a quarter left, M. Lewis made a foul throw to silence the Klaipėda Arena (71:88), Rihardas Lomažs was fouled, which was his fifth, so the technical foul went to the bench for emotions – 73:90. D. Tarolis hit from a distance, practically putting a point in the match – 93:73.
During the remaining time, Juventus did not create a miracle and the Klaipėda residents were happy with the victory.