After
holding on tight with CSKA for three quarters, Lietuvos Rytas collapsed in the
final period and will return to Lithuania with an 89-75 (19-22, 22-18, 21-18,
27-17 loss in the VTB United League game in Moscow on Saturday.
Having
scored six points and grabbed four boards already in the first quarter,
Lietuvos Rytas big man Lawrence Roberts didn’t come back on the floor after
twisting his ankle in the beginning of the game.
Lietuvos
Rytas were in the lead in the third quarter, but CSKA turned up the intensity and
forced the visitors to play out of their comfort zone, which led to forced
passes and a total collapse defensively.
Tyrese Rice
had a game-high 25 points for the Vilnius side, adding four assists to his
account as well. Mindaugas Katelynas and Jonas Valanciunas both finished with
13 points, while Predrag Samardziski collected eight.
For CSKA,
Alexey Shved had 16 points, Andrey Vorontsevich and Jamont Gordon both scored
14, while Sasha Kaun chipped in with 12 points and eight rebounds.
