Two teams, still
unbeaten in the Lithuanian League (LKL) met in Siauliai, where the home side
hosted Rudupis Prienai. Both teams had five victories each and were sharing the
top of the table, but it was Siauliai, who proved their dominance over the
rivals with a 98-86 (28-23, 23-23, 20-22, 27-18) and claimed the sixth victory
in a row in the league.
Siauliai were unstoppable in the first half, and at one point led by as much as 15, although in the end of the second quarter Rudupis stepped up and managed to close the gap to just five, leaving for a half-time talk with the scoreboard showing 46-51.
The second half saw Siauliai maintain a five to seven point advantage, but had a chance to kill off the game with seven minutes to play. After the bench of Rudupis received a technical foul, Edvinas Ruzgas missed twice from the free-throw line and Valdas Vasylius made a turnover.
Despite throwing a great opportunity to pull away after the technical foul, Siauliai were still on the offensive and Rudupis just couldn’t cope with the pressure and intensity that the home side put on display, as the Prienai side had the rotation cut down to only seven players due to injuries in the team.
Edvinas Ruzgas shone for Siauliai, scoring 23 points, Vytautas Sarakauskas added 19 points and grabbed 7 boards, while Cam Long finished the game with 18 points.
The energetic Rudupis big man Povilas Butkevicius had his second double-double in a row, ending up with 26 points and 11 rebounds, Gintaras Kadziulis scored 18 points as former Zalgiris player Dainius Salenga chipped in with 17.
With six consecutive win, Siauliai maintained the first place in the LKL table, knocking down Rudupis to the third for the time being. Siauliai will now face Lietuvos Rytas on the road in Vilnius on November 11, while Rudupis will meet Neptunas in Klaipeda on November 18.
