Wolves Twinsbet (18-8) successfully christened their new name and homecourt with an impressive victory as Coach Nedas Pacevičius’ team crushed M Basket-Delamode (11-14) of Mažeikiai, 104:78 (26:21, 30:23, 23:15, 25:19) – solidifying their tight grip on the third seed in the Betsafe-LKL standings.
Midway through the first quarter, the hosts led 16-7 due to a hot start to the match. The Wolves were able to maintain a relative distance from their opponents up until the end of the initial canto when Kay Bruhnke managed to sink a last-second three-point attempt to chip away at the lead – 21:26.
The men of Mažeikiai began the second quarter with four three-pointers in a matter of minutes, allowing them to wrestle back the advantage for a 33:30 lead. However, the Vilnius-based club responded aggressively to this scoring burst with their own 20-2 run, giving the home team a near-insurmountable 50:35 edge. The visitors tried to catch up, but Rasheed Sulaimon’s buzzer-beating trey just right before the halftime break gave his team a significant double-digit gap – 56-44.
By the third quarter, Wolves Twinsbet continued to step on the accelerator to increase separation – in just a few minutes their lead has then reached 20 points (66:46). Both teams continued to trade baskets until right before the start of the 4th quarter – 79:59. In the homestretch of the faceoff, the gap simply kept on ballooning until the final whistle.
Jeffery Taylor played a great game, recording 24 points (4/5 triples), 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 33 utility points – by far, the best showing of his career in the Lithuanian basketball league.
Eigirdas Žukauskas contributed to the Wolves’ win with 21 points and 18 utility points while Garrison Brooks stuffed the stat sheet with 8 points, 7 rebounds, 4 steals, 4 assists and 17 EFF.
After almost half a year, Artūrs Žagars was finally listed in the game’s active roster for the first time since completing rehabilitation after a serious knee injury. However, the Latvian guard did not see any action on the hardcourt.
In this game, the Mažeikiai team played without the injured Martynas Paliukėnas.
BC Wolves: Jeffery Taylor 24, Eigirdas Žukauskas 21, Tre’shawn Thurman 11, Rasheed Sulaimon 10, Regimantas Miniotas 9, Garrison Brooks and Vaidas Kariniauskas 8 each, Christian Mekowulu 6, Arnas Beručka 5, Kristupas Žemaitis 2. Vitalijs Kozys played but was scoreless, while Artūrs Žagars did not play.
M Basket-Delamode: Kay Bruhnke 17, Kamau Stokes and Daniel Dolenc 12 each.
(Photo: Rokas Lukoševičius)
