The unstoppable Titas Januševičius, who demonstrated his character, and Šakiai’s Vytis-VDU (9-4) defeated one of the leaders of URBO-NKL. Erikas Kučiauskas’s men stopped Marijampolė’s Sūduva-Mantinga (10-4) six-game winning streak on their home court 86:84 (17:27, 27:13, 19:30, 23:14) on their home court.
The resurgent Vytis-VDU climbed to fourth place in the tournament table, while Marijampolė is in second place.
Januševičius, who had his best performance of the season, scored 28 points in 23 minutes (10/10 two-pointers, 2/6 three-pointers, 2/3 free throws), grabbed 5 rebounds, stole the ball, and generated 33 efficiency points.
After the long break, the visitors started the quarter with a hurricane-like attack. Sūduva-Mantinga went on a 23:6 run (63:50), played the entire third quarter without mistakes, and entered the final 10 minutes with a 70:63 lead.
Žygimantas Šimonis’ three-pointer increased the visitors’ lead (76:65), but their offensive engine stalled over the next 5 minutes.
Šakiai’s leader Januševičius scored 10 unanswered points and reduced the hosts’ deficit to a minimum (75:76).
With a minute and a half left on the clock, Šakiai finally took the lead (79:78), but after a timeout, Ignas Labutis responded with a difficult two-pointer (80:79).
Januševičius took the initiative again and scored two points (81:80), and with 19 seconds left on the clock, Nojus Vaivada made a cool-headed three-pointer (84:80).
On the other side of the court, Aurelijus Pukelis also responded with a long shot with 8.7 seconds remaining (83:84). Jokūbas Rubinas stood at the free throw line and made no mistake (86:83), and the hosts deliberately fouled Domantas Vilys with 2.3 seconds left on the clock.
After making the first free throw, the point guard deliberately missed the second (84:86), but Kučiauskas’s team grabbed the ball and celebrated a dramatic victory.
Both teams shot three-pointers at almost identical percentages – Šakiai made 12 of 25 attempts (48 percent), while the Marijampolė team made 12 of 26 long-range shots (46 percent).
Information from nklyga.lt




