Juventus make Zalgiris sweat in Utena

With their horrific start of the Betsafe LKL season out of the rear-view mirror, Juventus gave the league-leading Zalgiris a run for their money on their home floor in Utena to in the last gameday of the calendar year.

Despite their excellent form in EuroLeague, the defending Lithuanian champions from Kaunas had to hold their breath until the final buzzer to inscribe a 78-74 win over Juventus.

The hosts were on even terms with Zalgiris midway through the fourth quarter at 54-all, but fell into a four-minute scoring drought that allowed the guests to break away down the stretch.

Kevin Pangos led the winners in scoring with 15 points, Axel Toupane collected 13, while Arturas Milaknis and Aaron White chipped in with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

For Juventus, Laron Dendy, Anthony Ireland and Dovis Bickauskis all had 13 points each.

The win allowed Zalgiris to finish 2017 with a league-best 15-2 record, while Juventus are 6-11 in the standings after taking some time to get rolling.