VILNIUS - For the second week in a row, Euroleague team Kaunas Zalgiris dug themselves a hole they coudn't get out of. Vilnius Lietuvos Rytas, on the other hand, bounced back from terrible form a week ago to win at home against a clearly overmatched side. After losing a close game at home last week against Barcelona, Zalgiris played Greece's Olympiacos in their second match of Euroleague's Top 16 on March 2. Playing better defense and exchanging leads for three quarters of the game, Zalgiris lost their composure and went cold in the fourth quarter. After a 3-minute scoring drought early in the fourth, Zalgiris began to claw back into the game but eventually hit a wall. His name was Sofoklis Schortsanitis.
"In the second half, Olympiacos ran its offense very well and Schortsanitis was doing a great job," said Zalgiris guard Kenny Anderson after the game.
Standing 6 feet, 8 inches and weighing close to 330 pounds, Schortsantis had an answer for every Kaunas basket in the fourth quarter and was virtually unstoppable. He finished 10 for 12 from the field with 25 points.
Paulius Jankunas led all Zalgiris scorers with 15 points and added 11 rebounds.
The loss, which pitted the coach of Zalgiris's 1999 Euroleague champion team, Jonas Kazlauskas, against his old assistant, Zalgiris coach Antanas Sireika, moves Kaunas to the bottom of Group D. Their next game is a must win at home against Spain's Unicaja on March 9.
"Our group is a tough one but anything is possible," said Sireika after the game.
Vilnius's Lietuvos Rytas had nowhere to go but up this week after setting a Euroleague record for offensive futility by a home team the week before.
After scoring an embarrassingly low 48 points in a loss to CSKA Moscow on Feb. 22, Lietuvos Rytas beat GHP Bamberg in Vilnius, 79 's 67 on March 1.
Rytas never relinquished an early lead and were in control throughout. Fred House played all 40 minutes for the hosts and led Vilnius with 19 points. Robertas Javtokas also added 15 points and 9 rebounds.
But the biggest difference from last week was the play of Lietuvos Rytas's Latvian point guard, Roberts Stelmahers.
"I think this game was a perfect example of what Lietuvos Rytas is with Stelmahers and without him. We played good basketball throughout 90 percent of the game and whenever we had problems, Stelmahers stepped in and helped us," explained Rytas coach Neven Spahija after the game.
Stelmaher, who had 8 points and 7 assists, said he was still returning to top form after four weeks out with injuries.
"Although I already played against CSKA, I am not fully fit yet. But I am very happy for my team's performance, because we had many poor games both home and away in the past and it is time to move on," said Stelmahers.
Rytas has a share of second in Group F with their next opponents, Tau Ceramica.
