Euroleague QR: Lietuvos Rytas fills out Group D

Euroleague Qualifier Round host Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius earned the final spot in the 2013-14 Euroleague with a 75:66 win over Belgian league champions Telenet Ostend on Friday. The win sends Rytas to Group D of the Euroleague where they’ll join Panathinaikos, Maccabi Electra, Laboral Kutxa, Lokomotiv Kuban, and Crvena Zvezda.

Lietuvos Rytas – Telenet Ostend, 75:66
In front of a crowd of an estimated 6,850, Lietuvos Rytas came back from a 10-point deficit after the first frame to capture the final spot in the Euroleague, while Telnet will join the rest of the Euroleague Qualifier Round competitors that came up short in the EuroCup.

The locals ran off the first seven points of the contest, but with the score 9:2 Ostend when on a 15:0 run that put them up 17:9. Ryan Thompson knocked down a triple in the final seconds to close out scoring in the frame with the guests up 22:12.

Thompson picked up where he left off by dropped a jumper to open scoring in the second. Martynas Gecevicius, fresh off a 36-point performance on Thursday to help get Rytas into the finals, hit his first three-ball of the contest shortly after. A 10:2 run mid-way through the quarter pulled Lietuvos to within four at 38:34, and hitting the final five of the half brought them within a deuce, 43:41.

The hosts opened the second have with a 10:1 run that put them up 51:44. Mateusz Ponitka of Ostend dropped in a lay-up and knocked down a three-pointer around another triple by Gecevicius. Omar Cook hit a three and a jumper inside the arc to start an 8:0 run that put Lietuvos up 13, 62:49. Jean Salumu cut of few points off the margin with a three-ball and a jumper wrapped around a Gediminas Orelick triple for Rytas, bringing the score to 65:56 as the clubs prepared for the final frame.

It took nearly three minutes in the fourth quarter before either team would score, then another two before they’d score again. Ponitka completed a three-point play, followed by an Andrija Stipanovic dunk off a Dusan Djordjevic assist to cut gap to four, 70:66 with just over two minutes to play. Those would be the last points the guests would tally though, while Rytas got a three-point play from Juan Palacios and a pair of singles from Gecevicius wrapping up the win and the invitation to join the Euroleague.

Gecevicius was game-high with 19, Palacios added an 11P/13R double-double, and Renaldas Seibutis also added 11.

Ostend got 16 from Pierre Antoine Gillet, 14 from Stipanovic, and 13 from Ponitka.