The winner of the SEB BBL regular season, Lietuvos Rytas had to strain every nerve to take the victory in a must-win semifinal against ASK Riga and an obligatory ticket to the SEB BBL Final game.

Although Rytas led for almost whole game (except the first three minutes only) they could never take it lightly because ASK put up a really good performance. Rytas won 85:76 (50:33) but as winners' head coach Rimas Kurtinaitis said: "You may think that 9 points is a clear victory but it was really, really tough."

Rytas had a nearly perfect shooting percentage in the first half. They made 12 of their first 15 two-point attempts whereas ASK started the game with 1/8 field goals made and were 4/13 in the 1st quarter.

Milko Bjelica made his best game in SEB BBL so far, scoring 19 points with 7/7 two-point shooting. Marijonas Petravicius and Arturas Jomantas added 12 points, Petravicius also 8 rebounds. Altogether, 11 Rytas players appeared on the scoresheet after the first half, already. For ASK Riga, Ernests Kalve made his career-high 22 points and added 9 rebounds. Marius Runkauskas scored 16 and Andrius Mazutis 15 as only 6 ASK players scored today.

The lead changed only twice as ASK had their noses ahead for the last time on the 4th minute of the game - 5:3 after a three-pointer by Aigars Vitols. During the first 4 minutes, both teams were a bit too nervous, combining only 3/13 FG.

In the 5th minute, Lithuanian team went ahead 7:5 after second consecutive basket by Petravicius. The lead was narrow for a while as Vitols and Ernests Kalve kept ASK going but a 9:0 (incl. 6 points by Milko Bjelica) run made it 22:10. Only Vitols and Kalve scored for ASK in 1st quarter.

The 2nd quarter belonged to Rytas as well. The teams exchanged baskets, making 7 successful attacks in a row but Rytas took the best of it as Lukauskis made two straight three-pointers, one together with a foul to make it 37:23. Petravicius was too good to handle - his 4th basket from 4 shots - made it 39:23 and Jomantas stretched the gap to 18. The first half ended with a halftime buzzer-beater by Babrauskas - 50:33.

ASK started the 2nd half with a 6:0 run and cut the deficit to 11 points. Within a single minute, two layups by Jomantas and a three-pointer by Sinica put Rytas ahead by 18, again. But ASK fought exceptionally well - Mazutis, Kalve, Vitols and Runkauskas made four (!!) three-pointers in only two minutes. Vitols added a jumper to cut the gap to a mere 7 points - 60:53. As Rimas Kurtinaitis later admitted, those were quite nervous minutes. "In the beginning of the game, it seemed that ASK had only one thing in mind - Rytas, oh, they won the European cup, they are too strong - but in the 2nd half, they realized that we are exactly the same kind of humans and started playing better and better."

But the Lithuanian train could not be stopped. Another 7:0 run by Rytas made it 67:53 and with a quarter to play, it was 69:56.

At the beginning of the 4th, Kalve made his 4th foul but the game stayed hot. ASK started coming closer again and Zavackas helped the Latvian team by making an unsportsmanlike foul. ASK managed to cut the gap to only 8 points with 1:40 left but then it was Chuck Eidson who calmly dropped a jumper to make it plus ten and secure the victory.

The head coach of ASK, Donaldas Kairys, seemed a bit sad at the press conference, saying that there was two different games today - the first half and the second one. "Unfortunately, we let them too far in the first half but I am still very satisfied with our effort." Kalve added that "the whole team played well in the 2nd half. I had no intention to take the leadership."

Bjelica was even more modest, commenting his individual 19 points. "We never aim for high individual score. Someone scores 20 points in one game, some other in another game. We won the game and that's all that matters."