{"id":9618,"date":"2026-10-06T21:30:05","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T18:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/?p=9618"},"modified":"2026-10-07T10:18:41","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T07:18:41","slug":"victorious-start-in-the-champions-league-showing-true-grit-rytas-vilnius-overcomes-sabah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/victorious-start-in-the-champions-league-showing-true-grit-rytas-vilnius-overcomes-sabah\/","title":{"rendered":"Victorious start in the Champions League: showing true grit, Rytas Vilnius overcomes Sabah"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">Rytas Vilnius launched their FIBA Champions League campaign on a winning note. In their tournament opener on home hardwood, the capital&#8217;s club overcame Sabah Baku 82:73 following a fiercely contested, momentum-swinging battle.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">The hosts set the tone early: intense defensive pressure disrupted the opposition as Kay Bruhnke converted at the line, Cassius Winston knocked down a midrange jumper, and Art\u016bras Gudaitis finished in transition off a Winston feed to establish an early 6:0 lead. However, the visitors quickly stabilized their presence inside. Nick Perkins&#8217; interior power and a Frankie Fidler three-pointer pushed Sabah in front (6:11). Matas Jog\u0117la answered from deep, but the visitors capitalized on second-chance opportunities through Evan Bruinsma and Tajuan Agee, leaving Vilnius trailing 16:20 after the first quarter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">As the second frame unfolded, the Vilnius offense stalled against a physical defensive look from the visitors. Following a Perkins slam and another Fidler triple, Sabah stretched their lead to a dangerous margin (20:27). The home team found their spark when Michael Devoe threw up an alley-oop for a thunderous Gudaitis dunk, followed immediately by an Ignas Urbonas three-pointer (23:27). When the Baku outfit tried to pull away once more, Gytis Radzevi\u010dius took charge\u2014the forward buried back-to-back triples, drew contact, and leveled the score from the charity stripe (35:35). High-pressure defense delivered crucial momentum right before the break: Gytis Masiulis intercepted a pass for a breakaway slam, and Radzevi\u010dius turned another steal into a transition finish to send Rytas Vilnius into the locker room up 39:38.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">Coming out of the break, Vilnius went on another surge: Radzevi\u010dius scored four quick points, Gudaitis secured an offensive board for a three-point play, and the lead grew to eight (47:39). Sabah answered with an 11:1 run of their own, as baskets from Mindaugas Su\u0161inskas, Fidler, and Perkins swung the lead back to Baku (53:57).<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">Augustas Mar\u010diulionis ignited the counter-attack with an explosive 8:0 personal run: the guard attacked the rim for two, drilled a step-back three on the next possession, and beat the shot clock with a spectacular heave from near mid-court, pushing Vilnius back in front at 61:57.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">The fourth quarter demanded nerves of steel. Sabah made an early push to edge ahead (63:65) and later maintained a slim 67:69 advantage. Devoe emerged as the decisive factor down the stretch\u2014scoreless up to that point, the American guard attacked the paint to tie the contest, then punctuated a fast break with a dunk off a Ricky Lindo Jr. steal to put Vilnius ahead (72:69).<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">Radzevi\u010dius quickly followed with a driving score and tacked on a free throw after a technical foul on the visitors (75:69). Devoe knocked down a pair from the stripe, Mar\u010diulionis sank his signature one-handed floater, and Devoe applied the finishing touch under the basket in the final seconds to cap the 82:73 triumph.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ng-star-inserted\"><span class=\"ng-star-inserted\">The capital club dominated the glass, winning the rebounding battle 47:37. Gytis Radzevi\u010dius earned player of the game honors after posting a commanding double-double with 21 points, 12 rebounds, and a 30 efficiency points.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rytas Vilnius launched their FIBA Champions League campaign on a winning note. In their tournament opener on home hardwood, the capital&#8217;s club overcame Sabah Baku 82:73 following a fiercely contested, momentum-swinging battle. The hosts set the tone early: intense defensive pressure disrupted the opposition as Kay Bruhnke converted at the line, Cassius Winston knocked down [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9619,"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-9618","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>Victorious start in the Champions League: showing true grit, Rytas Vilnius overcomes Sabah - 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\/victorious-start-in-the-champions-league-showing-true-grit-rytas-vilnius-overcomes-sabah\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Victorious start in the Champions League: showing true grit, Rytas Vilnius overcomes Sabah - Vilniaus \u201eRYTAS\u201c\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rytas Vilnius launched their FIBA Champions League campaign on a winning note. 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The hosts set the tone early: intense defensive pressure disrupted the opposition as Kay Bruhnke converted at the line, Cassius Winston knocked down [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/victorious-start-in-the-champions-league-showing-true-grit-rytas-vilnius-overcomes-sabah\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Vilniaus \u201eRYTAS\u201c\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-10-06T18:30:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-07T07:18:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/10\/mob7wkzmx47t7uflicq3-1024x683.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\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\/victorious-start-in-the-champions-league-showing-true-grit-rytas-vilnius-overcomes-sabah\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/victorious-start-in-the-champions-league-showing-true-grit-rytas-vilnius-overcomes-sabah\/\",\"name\":\"Victorious start in the Champions League: showing true grit, Rytas Vilnius overcomes Sabah - 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