After starting the VTB Untied League season
with a win in Krasnodar, Lietuvos Rytas were given a reality check in Mariupol,
as the local side Azovmash secured an 83-73 (25-19, 20-16, 16-15, 22-23) home victory
against the Lithuanian club.
Having played the last game only two days ago,
the visitors looked sluggish right from the beginning and Azovmash took
advantage of that already in the first half, opening up a 15-point lead at one
points.
Although Lietuvos Rytas did manage to cut the
deficit down to five points a couple of times in the second half, but the hosts
looked much crispier and held on to their lead to take a rather confident win.
Renaldas Seibutis looked the best for the
visitors from Vilnius with 18 points in his account, while Tyrese Rice, who didn’t
look like his usual self with six turnovers, still had 12 points and six
assists.
The energetic big man Lawrence Roberts finished
the game with decent 9 points and 11 rebounds, Steponas Babrauskas collected 9
points as well, while Macedonian center Predrag Samardziskis chipped in with
eight points and seven rebounds for Lietuvos Rytas.
Daniel Ewing led Azovmash with 15 points,
former NBA player Oleksiy Pecherov scored 12, while Ricky Minard and Joseph
Crispin both ended the game with 10 points for the victors.
