Zalgiris Kaunas lost an agonizing game 107-99 in overtime to Tel Aviv Macabbi on April 8, ending its 2003-2004 Euroleague campaign in heartbreak.
Zalgiris was up by three points with two seconds left in regulation time and looked set to upset the home team, but it missed two free throws and a lane violation to enable Maccabi to inbound the ball and tie the game on a final frantic shot. In the extra period, Zalgiris couldn't find its feet and were easily dispatched. Arvydas Sabonis paced Zalgiris with 29 points and nine rebounds but fouled out late in the fourth quarter.
In the final game of the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) season, Kaunas Zalgiris destroyed its archrival, Vilnius' Lietuvos Rytas, 93-75 at home on April 10. Rytas was without its center, Robertas Jevtokas, who was disqualified for four games by LKL officials for punching a player in a game a week earlier. Arvydas Sabonis also did not play for Zalgiris. The win gives Zalgiris a 35-1 record for the season while Rytas was second in the LKL with a 32-4 record. The LKL League Cup will begin April 15, and in the best of three quarterfinals Zalgiris will take on Nevezis Kedainiai, while Rytas will face Aukstaitija.
The American Lamon Brewster beat the Ukrainian Wladimir Klitscho in a shock victory on April10 to become the new WBO heavyweight champion. Klitschko dominated the fight until Brewster caught him out in the fifth round with two left hooks. The referee Robert Byrd stopped the fight at the end of the round, ruling that Klitschko was unable to carry on. "I tried to get a response out of him but there was none. I've never stopped a fight like that before," Byrd told reporters. Klitschko's future is now in some doubt after having been knocked out for the second time in four fights. "I know he's a tough guy. I know he can punch," said Brewster. "But what I wanted to do was show Americans don't lay down."
Brian Lara, the veteran captain of the West Indies cricket team, broke the record for the world test batting record with a staggering display of 400 not out in a test match against England on April 13. The 35-year-old has now surpassed the Australian batsman Matthew Hayden's previous record of 380 runs. Hayden was one of the first to congratulate Lara for his outstanding achievement in a telephone call. Lara is widely considered as one of the all time greats in cricket, and this is now the second time in 10 years that he has held the record.
