Zalgiris was close to the abyss, but escaped from defeat  in the MasterCard Baltic Basketball league (BBL) game today.  The Lithuanians, after overtime, won against Valmiera with result 84:81. Zalgiris played without Travis Watson and Dainius Salenga.

Top scorers:

Zalgiris: M.Brown 25 , M.Begic  18 (10 rebs.), M.Delas  13 (8 rebs.), A.Milaknis 9, A.Capin  6.
Valmiera: D.Davis 21, B.Cresnar 17, J.Andzejevski 14, K.Cipruss 11 (12 rebs.).

The game in Kaunas was opened with 2 points shot by Sarunas Vasiliauskas. But the hosts were not able to take initiative in their hands, so the result was very close. After 5 minutes of play, Zalgiris was at the front by 3 points (12:9), because Siim-Sander Vene and Povilas Butkevicius scored they points. But the guests gave a fast answer. Valmiera organized a run 13-0 and overbalanced the score in their favor (12:22,2min.).Until the end of this quarter Zalgiris came a little closer, but Valmiera was better - 17:26.

In the second quarter the guest continued to show a desire to win and after 2 minutes recovered a double-digit advantage (30:20). But Zalgiris woke up after couple minutes and played more aggresive. So, the hosts has made a run 12:2 and result was even- 32:32. But not for long. The Latvians scored 5 points without the answer and overbalanced the score once again in this game –37:32. But later Mario Delas scored a 3 points shot and cut Zalgiris deficit until 2 point - 37:39. Until big break Kaspar Cipruss scored a 2 point shot and Valmiera finished the first half of the game with the 4 point lead - 37:41.

In the third quarter  Zalgiris was very slowly again and it did not promise anything good for the hosts. After 3  minutes of play, the Latvians increased their lead until 7 points (47:40). However, Aleksandr Capin scored 2 point shot, Marcus Brown added a 3 pointer and the end of the quarter promised intrigue as Zalgiris decreased the lead of Valmiera till 2 point -  45:47. Soon the result became even - 51:51. But until the end of this quarter the guest shored 5 point without answer. The third quarter ended up when the result was 56:51 Valmiera being in front.

In the fourth quarter both teams showed a desire to win,so result was very close and intriguing. S.Vasiliauskas and Mirza Begic scored couple points and Zalgiris was at the front after a long break 57:56. After 3 minutes of play Janis Graudinis overbalanced the score once again  - 62:59. Later on Valmiera increased their lead until 5 points  (68:63, 6min.). During the rest of the time both teams was accurate , but at the end of the match both teams lacked precision and cold nerve. In a 30 seconds  no one could score and result did not change -  71:71.

During  the overtime the leading team has changed several  times.  In the last seconds  M.Brown realized 4 free throws and brought victory for Zalgiris.