{"id":8979,"date":"2026-02-14T21:59:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T19:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/?p=8979"},"modified":"2026-02-14T21:59:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T19:59:16","slug":"rytas-prevails-in-high-octane-thriller-against-neptunas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-prevails-in-high-octane-thriller-against-neptunas\/","title":{"rendered":"Rytas Prevails in High-Octane Thriller Against Nept\u016bnas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">In a heated and fiercely contested Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) match, Rytas Vilnius (11-7) defended their home court with a 100-95 victory over Nept\u016bnas Klaip\u0117da (11-7). With this win, the capital city club reclaims second place in the standings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">The game began with Rytas jumping to a 5-0 start, though Nept\u016bnas quickly responded through Arnas Beru\u010dka and Arnas Veli\u010dka to briefly take an 8-7 lead. The first quarter remained a back-and-forth affair until a Jordan Walker triple ignited a Rytas run, putting the hosts ahead 20-16. Tensions flared early as Nept\u016bnas head coach Gediminas Petrauskas was assessed a technical foul just seven minutes in. By the end of the first period, Rytas had established an eight-point cushion at 31-23.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">Nept\u016bnas refused to go away quietly in the second quarter. Mindaugas Gird\u017ei\u016bnas and Aurimas Majauskas chipped away at the lead, and a Harrison Cleary three-pointer narrowed the gap to a single point (32-31). However, Rytas stabilized their offense and regained a double-digit lead (49-39) behind a timely three-pointer from Jerrick Harding. Despite some missed opportunities at the charity stripe by Nept\u016bnas players Rihardas Loma\u017eas and A. Veli\u010dka, Rytas headed into the locker room with a 56-45 halftime lead.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">The second quarter was notably high-strung, with the officiating crew handing out technical fouls to A. Veli\u010dka, J. Walker, R. Loma\u017eas, and K. Smith.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">In the third quarter, Donatas Tarolis took charge for the visitors, scoring crucial points to trim the deficit to 60-56. Rytas managed to keep Nept\u016bnas at arm&#8217;s length (71-64), and after a trade of three-pointers between Veli\u010dka and Gytis Masiulis, Ignas Sargi\u016bnas forced a Nept\u016bnas timeout. Rytas held a 77-69 lead going into the final frame.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">The fourth quarter was a spectacle of drama. After an unsportsmanlike foul against M. Gird\u017ei\u016bnas, Nept\u016bnas surged back. R. Loma\u017eas fouled out of the game, and the Nept\u016bnas bench was assessed another technical. Despite the chaos, M. Gird\u017ei\u016bnas and A. Veli\u010dka pulled the visitors within two (85-83), before D. Tarolis finally reclaimed the lead for Nept\u016bnas at 86-85.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">In the closing minutes, Kay Bruhnke proved to be the difference-maker. He knocked down a clutch three-pointer to put Rytas back in front (89-86) and remained clinical in the final minute. With 47 seconds remaining and Rytas leading 91-90, Bruhnke delivered the final blows to ensure the victory for the hosts.<\/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\"> Jerrick Harding 21, Jordan Walker 18 (4\/13 FG, 5 ast), Ignas Sargi\u016bnas 15, Art\u016bras Gudaitis 14, Kay Bruhnke 14, Gytis Masiulis 10.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><strong class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">Nept\u016bnas:<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\"> Donatas Tarolis 20, Arnas Veli\u010dka 19 (12 ast, 34 eff), Mindaugas Gird\u017ei\u016bnas 14, Aurimas Majauskas 11, Harrison Cleary 10, Arnas Beru\u010dka 10.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a heated and fiercely contested Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) match, Rytas Vilnius (11-7) defended their home court with a 100-95 victory over Nept\u016bnas Klaip\u0117da (11-7). With this win, the capital city club reclaims second place in the standings. The game began with Rytas jumping to a 5-0 start, though Nept\u016bnas quickly responded through Arnas [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8980,"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-8979","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 Prevails in High-Octane Thriller Against Nept\u016bnas - 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-prevails-in-high-octane-thriller-against-neptunas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rytas Prevails in High-Octane Thriller Against Nept\u016bnas - Vilniaus \u201eRYTAS\u201c\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a heated and fiercely contested Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) match, Rytas Vilnius (11-7) defended their home court with a 100-95 victory over Nept\u016bnas Klaip\u0117da (11-7). With this win, the capital city club reclaims second place in the standings. The game began with Rytas jumping to a 5-0 start, though Nept\u016bnas quickly responded through Arnas [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-prevails-in-high-octane-thriller-against-neptunas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Vilniaus \u201eRYTAS\u201c\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-14T19:59:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/IMRL2190.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1365\" \/>\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=\"3 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-prevails-in-high-octane-thriller-against-neptunas\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-prevails-in-high-octane-thriller-against-neptunas\/\",\"name\":\"Rytas Prevails in High-Octane Thriller Against Nept\u016bnas - Vilniaus \u201eRYTAS\u201c\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-prevails-in-high-octane-thriller-against-neptunas\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-prevails-in-high-octane-thriller-against-neptunas\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/IMRL2190.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-14T19:59:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f142c0277ad01100fb7fca5a344a3f6b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-prevails-in-high-octane-thriller-against-neptunas\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-prevails-in-high-octane-thriller-against-neptunas\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-prevails-in-high-octane-thriller-against-neptunas\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/IMRL2190.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/IMRL2190.jpg\",\"width\":2048,\"height\":1365,\"caption\":\"Photo by Rokas Luko\u0161evi\u010dius\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-prevails-in-high-octane-thriller-against-neptunas\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"bcvilnius.lt\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rytas\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/category\/rytas\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Rytas Prevails in High-Octane Thriller Against Nept\u016bnas\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/\",\"name\":\"BC \u201eRytas\u201c\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f142c0277ad01100fb7fca5a344a3f6b\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/edaf941aa2ed2e51b44eefe72b9187adff80fda3460dc62f97fc6fd7fe4659ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/edaf941aa2ed2e51b44eefe72b9187adff80fda3460dc62f97fc6fd7fe4659ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rytas Prevails in High-Octane Thriller Against Nept\u016bnas - Vilniaus \u201eRYTAS\u201c","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-prevails-in-high-octane-thriller-against-neptunas\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rytas Prevails in High-Octane Thriller Against Nept\u016bnas - Vilniaus \u201eRYTAS\u201c","og_description":"In a heated and fiercely contested Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) match, Rytas Vilnius (11-7) defended their home court with a 100-95 victory over Nept\u016bnas Klaip\u0117da (11-7). With this win, the capital city club reclaims second place in the standings. The game began with Rytas jumping to a 5-0 start, though Nept\u016bnas quickly responded through Arnas [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-prevails-in-high-octane-thriller-against-neptunas\/","og_site_name":"Vilniaus \u201eRYTAS\u201c","article_published_time":"2026-02-14T19:59:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2048,"height":1365,"url":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/IMRL2190.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-prevails-in-high-octane-thriller-against-neptunas\/","url":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-prevails-in-high-octane-thriller-against-neptunas\/","name":"Rytas Prevails in High-Octane Thriller Against Nept\u016bnas - Vilniaus \u201eRYTAS\u201c","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-prevails-in-high-octane-thriller-against-neptunas\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-prevails-in-high-octane-thriller-against-neptunas\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/IMRL2190.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-14T19:59:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f142c0277ad01100fb7fca5a344a3f6b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-prevails-in-high-octane-thriller-against-neptunas\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-prevails-in-high-octane-thriller-against-neptunas\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-prevails-in-high-octane-thriller-against-neptunas\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/IMRL2190.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/IMRL2190.jpg","width":2048,"height":1365,"caption":"Photo by Rokas Luko\u0161evi\u010dius"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-prevails-in-high-octane-thriller-against-neptunas\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"bcvilnius.lt","item":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rytas","item":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/category\/rytas\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Rytas Prevails in High-Octane Thriller Against Nept\u016bnas"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/","name":"BC \u201eRytas\u201c","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f142c0277ad01100fb7fca5a344a3f6b","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/edaf941aa2ed2e51b44eefe72b9187adff80fda3460dc62f97fc6fd7fe4659ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/edaf941aa2ed2e51b44eefe72b9187adff80fda3460dc62f97fc6fd7fe4659ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt"],"url":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8979"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8981,"href":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8979\/revisions\/8981"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}