Zalgiris couldn’t capitalize on the absence of CSKA star forward Andrei Kirilenko and fell short against the Russian champions 82-95 (25-24, 20-27, 21-22, 16-22) in Moscow on Wednesday to continue the Euroleague nightmare that no one expected before the season.
The side from Kaunas suffered its fifth defeat in six games and remains in the bottom of Group B, while CSKA is one of the two remaining undefeated teams in the competition.
Despite all the recent troubles on and off the court, Zalgiris started the game rather brightly, sticking close to their Russian opponents throughout the first half, as Sonny Weems led the Lithuanians with 16 points in the first two quarters.
Zalgiris decided to play with a small line-up to start the fourth quarter with Ty Lawson, Marko Popovic and Tomas Delininkaitis on the court, but it didn’t solve the team’s defensive woes and coach Aleksandar Trifunovic was forced to re-adjust one again.
No matter what Zalgiris threw at CSKA, the hosts kept pulling away slowly and a second-chance opportunity basket by Milos Teodosic saw the Russian team gain a 13-point edge at 81-68, which CSKA managed to maintain until the end of the game.
Nenad Krstic was a mystery to Zalgiris defense, scoring 21 points and grabbing seven rebounds, Alexey Shved had 16 points, five boards and five assists, while Milos Teodosic and Andrey Vorontsevich chipped in with 14 points each.
Sonny Weems had a game-high 22 points for Zalgiris, Marko Popovic and Tomas Delininkaitis both finished the game with 12 points, as the Serbian big man Milovan Rakovic collected 10.
