Euroleague: Laboral Kutxa downs Lietuvos Rytas

There was a lone Euroleague game last night, but it provided some good basketball action. In Group D we saw Spain’s Laboral Kutxa Vitoria battle Lithuania’s Lietuvos Rytas for the victory, 85-64. Laboral Kutxa reaped the benefits of a recent decision to retain Serbian-Montenegrin player Milko Bjelica (205 cm) for at least one more month. He was a key producer for the Spanish club with 16 points off their bench. Beyond Bjelica’s impressive night, the game was about a well orchestrated offense and defense by coach Sergio Scariolo that allowed all five of his starters plus Bjelica to finish in double figures, while limiting Lietuvos Rytas’ offense down the stretch.

Even though the game ended with a 19-point margin, it was not that evident from the action in the first frame where both teams played a tug-of-war for the lead on nine occasions. Argentina-born Andres Nocioni (201 cm) made his presence felt early, getting his touch going with a couple of shots from the charity stripe en route to a 10 of 12 performance from the line. The former NBA forward would finish the night with a dominating 20-point, nine-rebound performance to lead all scorers. He stepped things up in the second quarter to take his team up by four, 45-41, at the break.

Laboral Kutxa crashed the boards in the third quarter, limiting Lietuvos Rytas’ second-chance points. Omar-Sharif  Cook (186 cm, St. John’s’01), who has dual American and Montenegrin citizenship, tried his best to orchestrate the offense of his Lithuanian team. Omar finished the night with a healthy double-double, scoring 13 points while handing out 10 assists. He even was on point on the defensive end with three steals. The problem with Lietuvos Rytas was that the team could not hold a consistent flow in their offense. Aside from local player Martynas Gecevicius (193 cm) who had the hot hand from the outside, converting four of his 10 attempts from downtown to finish with 14 points, the back-up unit could not sustain let alone produce scoring output. Laboral Kutxa finished the third frame with an eight-point advantage, 54-62.

By the time the fourth quarter got underway, Nocioni and Bjelica had completely gotten into their groove and could not be stopped as Milko’s drive gave them their first double-digit lead, 54-64. Lietuvos Rytas could not buy a basket and quickly found themselves in a hole, unable to muster a run to cut into the Spanish team’s lead into manageable levels.