The BC Wolves (14-7) seem to encounter significant difficulty going up against Cbet Jonava (8-13) after falling on the road against Virginijus Šeškus and his troops, 81:68 (21:13, 26:18, 16:18, 18:19). The Wolves are 2-6 against the club from Jonava over the last two seasons - the Vilnius-based team also lost last month while playing at home in the Lithuanian capital, 85-96.
The home team's advantage became more evident midway through the first quarter - as soon as the second quarter started, Cbet Jonava already led by double-digits (23:13). By forcing multiple Wolves turnovers, the home team almost blew out the visitors (45-27), and by halftime, they were firmly in control of the game - 47-31.
Although the visitors slowly chipped away at the deficit (39:49) by the third quarter, the home team managed to push back and pad their lead (60:41) - Cbet Jonava still kept a comfortable advantage as the third canto ended, 63:49. Wolves guard Kristupas Žemaitis, who started the fourth quarter with back-to-back three-pointers, brought his team closer to just a single-digit deficit - 55:63. He made another three-pointer to trim the lead further down – 62:65.
However, the home team remained steadfast and made a game-breaking run to extend the lead with two and a half minutes remaining - 75:65. For the rest of the match, Cbet Jonava held on to notch this key victory.
In this game, the Wolves had poor shooting across all spots. They made only 46% of their 2-pointers (19/41), 27% from the three-point arc (6/22) and logged only 52% from the free-throw line (12/23). Cbet Jonava did not fare well from the charity stripe either, making only 19 out of 29 attempts (66%).
It won't be the last game for the Wolves this week. On Sunday, they will host 7bet-Lietkabelis of Panevėžys (11-7) in their home turf in Vilnius.
BC Wolves: Jeffery Taylor 15, Kristupas Žemaitis 13, Christian Mekowulu and Eigirdas Žukauskas 10 each, Regimantas Miniotas 9, Garrison Brooks 6, Rasheed Sulaimon 4, Vaidas Kariniauskas 1. Tre'Shawn Thurman, Arnas Beručka, and Vitalijs Kozys were scoreless.
Cbet Jonava: Ryan Larson 16, Ivan Marinkovic and Justas Furmanavičius 13 each.
Rokas Lukoševičius / LKL photo