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Kinder London Towers’ woeful Euroleague campaign ground to an inevitable losing conclusion in Lithuania as the BBL outfit took their 14th loss in 14 starts, defeated 90-72 by Zalgiris Kaunas
When the two teams met at Crystal Palace earlier in the season, the Lithuanians came out with an 81-58 victory. However, Zalgiris - who failed to make the last 16 with a 5-9 mark - were rarely troubled after erasing an early 2-8 deficit, racing into a 28-19 advantage at the close of the opening period.
Up by 16 points at half-time, the 1999 champions were powered by a 36 point exhibition from Ukrainian international Grigor Hiznjak. Towers, for whom this was the fourth game in six days, already seem tired after the big break. The hosts put on a 13-0 scoring run to lead 64-35 as London remained scoreless for almost six minutes.
Terrell Myers tried his best to stem the tide but the margin did not diminish and Zalgiris led 75-46 after three periods. Only in the final quarter did David Lindstrom's side make the scoreline respectable, Phil Hickey leading a belated 0-15 charge to finish with 21 points and 12 rebounds respectively.
London coach David Lindstrom was hopeful that the experience will have benefitted his side.
"To play such a famous team like Zalgiris in Kaunas was a honour to us. We have had too many games and too many injuries lately, so it was unrealistic to beat Zalgiris. Still, I feel the EL games experience will help us a lot in achieving our two big goals of the season: making it to the NEBL Final Four and winning the BBL championship. I want to express my profound respect to Zalgiris Coach Brazys who, in contrast to some other coaches, did not seek to crush us. He let his bench players play a lot."
Myers added 18 for Towers who are the only team with a 0-14 record from the first phase.
Kinder Bologna head the final standings in Group B with an 12-2 after rallying in the final quarter to defeat Frankfurt 69-62. The Germans dropped out of the qualifying positions as a consequence after Olimpija's 8-74 home win over Barcelona and Ulker's 93-79 defeat of Peristeri.
In the toughest Group A, Olympiakos, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Benetton Treviso all advanced with 10-3 marks along with Turkish outfit Efes Pilsen. In Group C, Panathinaikos failed to claim outright hold of the best record, ending on 12-2 after losing 77-88 at home to second placed Real Madrid.
In Group D, Tau Vitoria headed the qualifiers with a 9-5 record, ahead of Andy Betts' AEK Athens, Scavolini and Ural Great.
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