NIKE IJT Madrid 2008, report: Red Star 73-82 Lietuvos Rytas
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Lietuvos Rytas grabbed its second win in the Nike Junior Tournament and stayed perfect after an 82-73 win over Red Star Belgrade. Rytas climbed to 2-0 and will play tomorrow against AXA FC Barcelona on the Group A ticket to the grand finals on Sunday. Red star will play Cibona as both teams would try to avoid a record clean of wins. L. Rytas started with an 8-0 lead but from that moment had to leave blood, sweat and almost tears as well to get the victory. The nine point margin was extended only in the last seconds, after Red Star came back to minus two with 80 seconds to play. Augustas Peciukevicius led the way with 19 points for Zalgiris, Gediminas Bertasius scored 17 in good percentages, Rokas Jukonis brought 12 points and Zimnickas scored 10. Nemanja Nedovic and Lazar Radosavijevic led Red Star with 15 points each.
Rytas took an 8-0 lead in the first 2:30 minutes before Red Star went on the board. Red Star found its rhythm from long range to come back to the game, but saw Zimnickas hit a big long range to sum up the first quarter with Rytas up 23-13. Red Star stepped up on defense with big intensity and full court pressure at times, limiting L. Rytas on eight points in the first eight minutes of the period. Djordje Susa with big fight under the boards tied the game at 31-31 right before the half time break, added a block at the other end and forced Rytas to enter the locker-rooms tied at 33-33. Red Star continued with its hard-nosed defense and despite Nedovic got in early foul trouble, the pressure stayed, as every L. Rytas attempt to score found some meat on the way to the rim. Peciukevicius connected four shots in a row from the line late in the third, and followed he added an assist to a three pointer which gave Rytas some breathing room entering the last quarter with a 61-56 lead. Red Star didn't allow Rytas to get too far, and in the closing minutes made the big clutch. Nedovic created for his team-mates and Loncovic fought under the rim to make it 72-70 Rytas with 80 seconds to play, but Rytas were accurate from the line, Red Star missed its chances to complete the come back and dropped another game.
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