{"id":8971,"date":"2026-02-04T23:51:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T21:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/?p=8971"},"modified":"2026-02-04T23:51:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T21:51:00","slug":"rytas-vilnius-led-for-the-majority-of-the-game-but-fell-to-group-leaders-in-the-fiba-champions-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-vilnius-led-for-the-majority-of-the-game-but-fell-to-group-leaders-in-the-fiba-champions-league\/","title":{"rendered":"Rytas Vilnius led for the majority of the game but fell to group leaders in the FIBA Champions League"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">Rytas Vilnius continues its run in the FIBA Champions League &#8220;Top 16&#8221; stage. The squad led by Giedrius \u017dib\u0117nas suffered an away defeat against Le Mans Sarthe Basket after a fluctuating battle, losing 72-78 (18:17, 25:15, 12:25, 17:21).<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">Rytas started the game strong\u2014Jacob Wiley nailed a three-pointer in the very first minute, and following long-range shots from Simonas Luko\u0161ius and Speedy Smith, the visitors pulled away (11-4). Although the hosts tried to close the gap with spectacular dunks by Lucas Dufeal, Gytis Masiulis and Kay Bruhnke converted their shots to help Rytas stay ahead 18-17 after the first quarter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">In the second quarter, Rytas stepped up the pace. They bombarded the opponents&#8217; basket with three-pointers, and after Jordan Walker\u2019s long-range shot, the lead reached a record 14 points (38-24). Playing disciplined defense, the Vilnius side went into the halftime break with a solid cushion\u201443-32.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">The momentum shifted after the break. Le Mans Sarthe Basket players, who hadn&#8217;t made a single three-pointer until then, found their rhythm from deep. The Rytas offense began to stall, and in the 28th minute, a two-pointer by W. Yeguete put the hosts in the lead for the first time (52-51). Rytas managed only 12 points in the third quarter and trailed 55-57 before the final stretch.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">True drama unfolded in the fourth quarter. While Bogues Jr. tried to increase the French side&#8217;s lead, a dunk by Wiley and a two-pointer by Smith kept Rytas in the game (61-61). With less than 3 minutes remaining, Ignas Sargi\u016bnas hit a clutch three-pointer to tie the score (66-66). However, Johnny Berhanemeskel took over in the closing moments, scoring four consecutive points. The hopes of Rytas were finally dashed by an offensive foul from Smith with 30 seconds left and accurate free throws from the hosts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">Jacob Wiley was the most efficient player for Rytas, recording 9 points, 6 rebounds, and 17 efficiency points.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">Following this defeat, Rytas sits in third place in Group I with one victory and will play their next game next week against Hapoel Holon.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><strong class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">Rytas:<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\"> Gytis Masiulis 11, Jacob Wiley 9 (6 reb.), Jordan Walker 9, Art\u016bras Gudaitis 8 (6 reb.), Speedy Smith 8 (4 ast., 5 TO), Simonas Luko\u0161ius 8.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rytas Vilnius continues its run in the FIBA Champions League &#8220;Top 16&#8221; stage. The squad led by Giedrius \u017dib\u0117nas suffered an away defeat against Le Mans Sarthe Basket after a fluctuating battle, losing 72-78 (18:17, 25:15, 12:25, 17:21). Rytas started the game strong\u2014Jacob Wiley nailed a three-pointer in the very first minute, and following long-range [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8972,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rytas"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rytas Vilnius led for the majority of the game but fell to group leaders in the FIBA Champions League - Vilniaus \u201eRYTAS\u201c<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-vilnius-led-for-the-majority-of-the-game-but-fell-to-group-leaders-in-the-fiba-champions-league\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rytas Vilnius led for the majority of the game but fell to group leaders in the FIBA Champions League - Vilniaus \u201eRYTAS\u201c\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rytas Vilnius continues its run in the FIBA Champions League &#8220;Top 16&#8221; stage. The squad led by Giedrius \u017dib\u0117nas suffered an away defeat against Le Mans Sarthe Basket after a fluctuating battle, losing 72-78 (18:17, 25:15, 12:25, 17:21). Rytas started the game strong\u2014Jacob Wiley nailed a three-pointer in the very first minute, and following long-range [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-vilnius-led-for-the-majority-of-the-game-but-fell-to-group-leaders-in-the-fiba-champions-league\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Vilniaus \u201eRYTAS\u201c\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-04T21:51:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-02-04-at-23.45.27.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1066\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-vilnius-led-for-the-majority-of-the-game-but-fell-to-group-leaders-in-the-fiba-champions-league\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-vilnius-led-for-the-majority-of-the-game-but-fell-to-group-leaders-in-the-fiba-champions-league\/\",\"name\":\"Rytas Vilnius led for the majority of the game but fell to group leaders in the FIBA Champions League - 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The squad led by Giedrius \u017dib\u0117nas suffered an away defeat against Le Mans Sarthe Basket after a fluctuating battle, losing 72-78 (18:17, 25:15, 12:25, 17:21). 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