Saulius Stombergas More photos - in picture gallery

    Kaunas, LITHUANIA. "Zalgiris" Kaunas defeated "Tau Ceramica" Vitoria (Spain) in its ninth EuroLeague game 80:76 (42:33) winning the sixth victory in a row. "Zalgiris" continues to lead Group A in EuroLeague with a 7-2 record.

    "Zalgiris" had a slow start in the first half, trailing 6:16 with 5 minutes played. After a time-out "Zalgiris" managed to overtake the initiative and led 23:22 in the middle of the first period. Saulius Stombergas and Anthony Bowie led Lithuanian club in scoring with 13 and 12 points in the first half respectively, helping "Zalgiris" to gain 9 points advantage before the halftime.

    "Zalgiris" enjoyed its biggest advantage in the beggining of the second half - 55:42. With 3 minutes left "Zalgiris" led 74:63. However, the outcome of the game wasn't clear yet. After Stefano Rusconi got his fifth foul, "Tau Ceramica" played without a center, but managed to cut the difference to just 2 points in the last minute of the game. Saulius Stombergas shot the decisive jumper with 10 seconds left to secure the victory for "Zalgiris".

    Stombergas also led "Zalgiris" in scoring with 21 points. He also had 5 rebounds and 5 steals. Tyus Edney finished with 12 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds (all offensive!). Eurelijus Zukauskas had a poor game (6 points on 2/6 FT), but other center George Zidek came off the bench to collect 11 points and 7 rebounds. Tomas Masiulis also contributed well to "Zalgiris" victory with 10 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists.

    Stefano Rusconi and Miroslav Beric scored 17 points each for the Spanish team. Elmer Bennett finished with 10 points and 17 assists.

    In other EuroLeague Group A games on Thursday "Fenerbahce" Istanbul (TUR) defeated "Avtodor" (RUS) in Saratov 88:83, and "Elan Bearnais" Pau Orthez (FRA) had no trouble beating "Roosters" Varese (ITA) 82:67.