NEPTUNAS CRUSHED NEVEZIS IN KEDAINIAI (COMMENT)

The Lithuanian LKL vice-champions, Neptunas from Klaipeda crushed the basketball players of Nevezis from Kedainiai unfailingly by a 43 point advantage with the score of 116:73 (33:29, 24:20, 23:16, 36:8).

The Neptunites amassed the advantage in the middle of the second quarter - 46:47, and they were in the lead by 15 points with the score of 80:65.

Neptunas started the fourth quarter with some whirlwind attacks - played an impressive interval with the score of 18:0 and swept the opponents from their stride in an emphatic manner.

Nevezis: Vaidotas Volkus - 18 points, Marcus Monroe - 17 points (7 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 blocks, 9 turnovers), Rytis Biliartas - 12 points.

Neptunas: Mindaugas Girdziunas - 14 points (6 rebounds), Deividas Gailius - 13 points, Justas Sinica - 12 points, Keith Benson - 12 points (2 blocks), Mustafa Shakur - 11 points (7 rebounds, 4 assists), Valdas Vasylius and Donatas Zavackas - 9, Martynas Mazeika, Arnas Butkevicius and Egidijus Dimsa - 8, Vytautas Sarakauskas and Simas Galdikas - 6 points.

It was the fourteenth victory of Neptunas in the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) championship. With only two losses, the basketball players from the port town occupy the third position in the table.

Kazys Maksvytis (Neptunas head coach): "We were perhaps too relaxed during the first two quarters, but we started to play better in defence and managed to punish the opponents with fast breaks in the second part of the match. All the players were able to participate in this match and we were able to save the key players towards the end of the match. All of them are ready and burn with a desire to play as well as possible in Spain. All understand that the price of victory is huge - a guaranteed ticket to the Euroleague Top 16 stage."

On Tuesday, at 6 am, the Neptunites fly to Valencia from Palanga, where they will play the last match of the first Euroleague round with the local Valencia Basket team in Spain on 18 December (on Thursday) at 8 pm. A victory would guarantee a ticket to the Top 16 stage for Neptunas.

Even if Npetunas lose, the road to the Top 16 stage may be opened with the victory of Pireaus Olympiakos against Istanbul Galatasaray.

We would like to remind you that Neptunas beat last season's European Cup winner, the Valencia Basket team with the score of 94:87 in the Euroleague - the most prestigious European Basketball Tournament - at the Svyturys arena on 13 November.

The Neptunites also beat the previous last two season's Serbian Cup winners, the Beograd Crvena Zvezda Telekom team with the score of 83:81 on 23 October, the Vitoria Laboral Kutxa (Spain) with the score of 80:79 on 20 November, the 11 time Turkish championship Instanbul Galatasaray team, where the Lithuanian national basketball team member, Martynas Pocius, plays, with the score of 82:72 on 10 December.