All match-ups have now begun the Citadele Karaliaus Mindaugas Cup (Citadele KMT) quarterfinal stage.
Rytas Vilnius secured a convincing victory in the first game, defeating Šiauliai 97-82 (32-25, 27-17, 19-24, 19-16) on the road.
The second game of the series will take place on January 15 in the capital. As a reminder, the team with the better aggregate point difference will advance to the Citadele KMT Final Four.
At the start of the match, the hosts kept pace and took a 9-7 lead. Artūras Gudaitis and Jordan Walker regained the lead (11-9), but Cedric Henderson scored twice in a row to make it 14-11. The first quarter remained high-scoring and intense, though Rytas eventually began to pull away (27-21). After the first ten minutes, Rytas was ahead 32-25.
Daniel Baslyk reduced his team’s deficit (28-32), but Simas Lukošius and the imports responded with a run that pushed the lead to double digits (43-28). Rytas worked to maintain their advantage (48-31), even as shots from Siim-Sander Vene and Vaidas Kariniauskas gave the hosts a boost (36-48). Nevertheless, by halftime, the capital club led 59-42.
Despite Šiauliai attempting to close the gap with long-range shots (48-61), Gytis Masiulis, Ignas Sargiūnas, and Jordan Walker stabilized the situation for Rytas (68-50). The hosts refused to surrender and stayed in the fight (59-72), eventually cutting the deficit to single digits (66-75). It took a Jordan Walker three-pointer to restore the double-digit lead for the visitors (78-66).
There was still plenty of time left. Although Rytas seemed to have control (85-68), Dovydas Romančenko and Siim-Sander Vene both hit triples, and Dayvion McKnight added a free throw (76-85). A technical foul was called on the Rytas bench, while Cedric Henderson continued to shrink the gap (79-85). With less than 6 minutes remaining, Kay Bruhnke joined the three-point barrage, and Jerrick Harding converted his free throws, making the visitors’ situation stable again (90-79). Šiauliai could not bring the intrigue back any further.
With a couple of minutes remaining, technical fouls were assessed to Cedric Henderson and Ignas Sargiūnas, and later to head coach Giedrius Žibėnas.
Playing his first game of the season, Siim-Sander Vene scored 8 points, grabbed 1 rebound, dished out 2 assists, and recorded 6 efficiency points in 16 minutes.
Jordan Walker was the standout performer for Rytas, scoring 25 points, providing 10 assists, and recording 31 efficiency points. Jerrick Harding contributed 23 points.
Šiauliai: Cedric Henderson 15, Oskaras Pleikys 14 (9 reb), Dayvion McKnight 11 (5 reb, 7 ast), Dovydas Romančenko 10, Siim-Sander Vene 8.
Rytas: Jordan Walker 25 (5/10 3PT, 10 ast, 31 eff), Jerrick Harding 23, Gytis Masiulis 16 (3/4 3PT), Artūras Gudaitis 13 (10 reb).