Šilalė’s Lūšis (2/1) suffered a defeat in Division A of the Regional Basketball League, losing 75:78 (20:26, 23:18, 13:21, 19:13) to the Vytautas Magnus University (3/1) team, which is in excellent form.
The VDU team struck Šilalė in the first quarter, after which they led by double digits (30:20). Fired up by their fans, the Lūšies players went on a 15:5 run and took the lead (41:39), but Ričardas Butkus calmed things down – the visitors had a minimal advantage going into the second half (44:43).
The third quarter was a fierce battle (48:48), but R. Butkus, who took on the role of VDU leader, gave his team a tangible lead (62:52), and the hosts had to chase their opponents again. The fourth quarter turned into a real drama – the visitors’ offense stalled, allowing Šilalė to get back into the game and even take the lead (71:68).
With two minutes left to play, Erikas Anušauskas scored important points for VDU, bringing the visitors closer to victory (78:73). The hosts, led by D. Šimaitis, refused to give up, reducing the deficit to one point (78:75) and had a chance to equalize in the final attack, but the three-pointer was inaccurate – Kaunas triumphed.
The Lūšies team was particularly unlucky with long-range shots, scoring only 5 out of 22 (23%), while the visitors scored 11 out of 29 (38%).
For Vytautas Magnus University, Ričardas Butkus scored 15 points (2/6 three-pointers, 5/5 free throws), Erikas Anušauskas added 11, and Mantas Mockevičius scored 10 (8 rebounds).
Information from rkl.lt
