“NEPTŪNAS” WOKE UP TOO LATE AND SUCCUMBED TO THE TEAM “VYTAUTAS” (COMMENTS)

Klaipėda, “Neptūnas” suffered a loss at home - in the Lithuanian Basketball League championship (“Tete-aTete Casino LKL”) in “Švyturio Arena” this Sunday, they lost a match to the team Prienai-Birštonas, “Vytautas” with a result of 82:87.

Even though they played without Daniel Ewing, their main team player, the players of “Neptūnas” already in the first quarter amassed a two-digit lead - 19:9, and after the first ten minutes were leading - 27:18.

Even so, later on the game started to waver and the players from Prienai simply made fantastic shots from various angles, so up to halftime not only did they overtake the score, but also advanced to a 14 point difference - 50:36.

Interestingly enough that the players from Prienai-Birštonas during the first five minutes of the second quarter scored all their throws. That is how “Vytautas” gained 18 points. The 22:4 six minute run helped to tip the score and take the initiative. The guests won the second quarter with a result of 32:9.

With 12 seconds left on the clock until the end of the match, the players from Klaipėda were able to catch up to 5 points - 78:83, but they ran short of luck and time to change the outcome in their favor.
“Vytautas” won their fourth game out of five in the LKL championship, whilst “Neptūnas” has 2 victories and 3 defeats.

The players of “Neptūnas” are leaving to Israel on Monday where they will face the team Jerusalem, “Hapoel”, which is in group F in the Eurocup, on October 21st (Wednesday) at 19:30.

The players of “Neptūnas” are playing versus the team Volgograd, “Krasny Oktyabr” on October 28th (Wednesday) in “Švyturio Arena” at 19:00. This will be the third match for “Neptūnas” in the Eurocup.
Both home and road game matches of “Neptūnas” of the Eurocup tournament will be aired via LRT culture channel.

The players from Klaipėda before the game against the Russians (October 25th) will play versus Panevežys, “Lietkabelis” on a road game. This will be an LKL match.

Dainius Adomaitis (Head Coach of “Neptūnas“): “First of all, congratulations to Prienai. They played yet another good match. Already at the start of the season they are in good shape. It is unfortunate that we lost in this manner. The second quarter was particularly unfortunate; as a coach I have to take responsibility in making mistakes with player substitutions. Yes, we have a problem positioning the players (Daniel Ewing was unable to play due to an injury (author’s note)); I wanted for Mindaygas Girdžiūnas to rest for a few minutes and thus our problems began. Then they made a few throws and started to feel the game. We were not able to chase the opponents – they accurately threw three-pointers. On Monday, Daniel is not going to fly to Israel with the team; he will miss the Eurocup championship match on Wednesday. At first it looked that the leg injury is not serious, but it became clear when he started to walk and exercise that the injury is more serious than we though.”

Virginijus Šeškus (Head Coach of “Vytautas”): “When one is winning, one always says that the match was good. This was our first road game. I was very afraid and “Neptūnas“ is a serious opponent. Due to that the victory was that much sweeter. I would like to rejoice that we were able to come back after experiencing the barrage of three-pointers by “Neptūnas” in the first quarter. We changed our defense system and it worked out. We won the earned and very sweet victory. We see that there are still gaps and that there is room for improvement, but when you win the game – all the misplays are excused”. 

“Neptūnas“ - “Vytautas” - 82:87 (27:18, 9:32, 20:20, and 26:17)

“Neptūnas“: Martynas Mažeika - 23, Mindaugas Girdžiūnas - 21, Donatas Zavackas - 12 (11 rebounds), Jerai Grant - 11, Vytautas Šarakauskas - 6, Arvydas Šikšnius - 4, Travis Bader - 3, and Arnas Butkevičius - 2 pts.

“Vytautas”: Gytis Sirutavičius - 19, Laimonas Kisielius - 18, Vytautas Šulskis - 15, Vilmantas Dilys - 12, and Šarūnas Vasiliauskas - 11 (6 assists).