The BC Wolves (17-8) logged their seventeenth victory in the Betsafe-LKL regular season last Saturday evening after Coach Nedas Pacevičius’ troops scored a massive home win versus Nevēžis-Optibet (6-18) to the tune of 102:83 (23:27, 30:24, 27:16, 22:16). This latest victory from the Vilnius-based club gave them a firmer hold on the tournament’s third seed.
While the home team started off the game with a sense of urgency (14:5), the visitors from Kėdainiai quickly erased the deficit and stormed ahead ten minutes later – 27:23. The fight in the second quarter was quite even for both clubs until Rasheed Sulaimon buried a long three-point shot in the final seconds right before halftime to give the Wolves a slim lead, 53-51.
After the midgame break, the hosts gradually tipped the faceoff in their favour. By the end of the third quarter, R. Sulaimon’s exploits gave the home team a significant advantage – 78:61. However, Kėdainiai’s men proved to be resilient and under Amit Ebo’s leadership, managed to chip away a considerable chunk of the deficit (76:80).
With a few minutes left in the match, Gediminas Petrauskas was ejected after picking up his second technical foul – the team of the Lithuanian capital then seized that opportunity to their advantage to break away for the win.
The co-winners of the recently concluded Betsafe Casino three-point competition led their respective teams, and in this faceoff, both R. Sulaimon and Sean McNeil shot identical marks from the three-point arc with each going 4/8 from distance.
The Wolves guard scored 30 markers and collected 31 utility points. Meanwhile, Jeffery Taylor (16 points, 21 EFF) and Garrison Brooks (16 points, 8 rebounds, 23 EFF) also stepped up in this win.
BC Wolves: Rasheed Sulaimon 30, Jeffery Taylor and Garrison Brooks 16 each, Regimantas Miniotas 10, Vitalijs Kozys 9, Eigirdas Žukauskas 8, Vaidas Kariniauskas 6.
Nevėžis-Optibet: Amit Ebo 23, Sean McNeil 21, Ignas Vaitkus 11.
(Photo: Saulius Čirba)
