The first and highly intriguing quarterfinal series of the Lithuanian Basketball League (Betsafe-LKL) has come to an end. CBet Jonava managed to hold off a surging Wolves Twinsbet Vilnius at home, securing a 102–98 (25:26, 32:22, 22:18, 23:32) victory.

With this win, Jonava takes the series 2–0.

The home side opened the game with a scoring run, but Wolves Twinsbet quickly responded and held a 13–11 lead midway through the first quarter. A strong stretch pushed the lead to 24–17, but Brandon Childress caught fire, scoring 10 points in the opening period to keep CBet right on their heels — 25–26.

Jonava opened the second quarter with an unanswered 8-point run to go up 33–26. Although the visitors tried to rally, Bogdan Bliznyuk extended the lead to double digits for the first time, 43–33. Regimantas Miniotas and Matas Jogėla provided a spark for the Vilnius team (43–49), but CBet went into halftime leading 57–48.

It looked like the tension would rise after baskets from Jeff Taylor and Jogėla (52–57), but the game quickly swung in a completely different direction. CBet responded with a 7–0 run to restore a double-digit lead, and led by their foreign players, the hosts kept pulling away — 72–54. Turnovers hurt the Wolves, and their situation after three quarters became difficult — 79–66.

Arnoldas Kulboka took the initiative and led his team forward (73–81), gradually cutting into the deficit. He soon followed with another three-pointer (76–81), while Andrew Andrews sparked a fast break — 78–81. Mantas Šernius called a timeout, but it did little to change the momentum. The Wolves tied the game (81–81) and even moved ahead from the free-throw line — 86–83.

With half a quarter remaining, CBet had squandered their entire lead and now had to play catch-up. The Wolves didn’t let them get far (89–91), even though Andrews tried to stretch the gap. He drew a foul while shooting from deep (96–91), but Childress answered by doing the same — 94–96. After Marek Blaževič fouled out, Childress kept his composure from the line to tie it up again — 96–96.

With one minute left, Kristupas Žemaitis missed a shot, but Childress continued to lead — 98–96. After Andrews missed a close-range attempt, Lukas Kreišmontas drew a foul, putting his team closer to victory — 100–96. With 15 seconds left, Kulboka missed, the Wolves had to foul, and Jonava sealed the win.

Wolves Twinsbet: Regimantas Miniotas 18 (4/4 3PT), Andrew Andrews 15, Arnoldas Kulboka 14, Anthony Cowan, Matas Jogėla, and Tre'Shawn Thurman — 11 each, Jeffery Taylor 8, Marek Blaževič 6, Kristupas Žemaitis and Garrison Brooks — 2 each. Justinas Marcinkevičius and Daniel Baslyk did not play (coach’s decision).

CBet: Brandon Childress 22 (6 assists, 3/3 3PT), Bogdan Bliznyuk 19 (3/8 3PT, 7 rebounds), Erikas Venskus and Dominick Brewton — 15 each.

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(Photo by Rokas Lukoševičius / LKL)