Lietkabelis and Neptunas score easy wins; Zalgiris struggle in Kedainiai

Neptunas and Lietkabelis continued their brilliant play at the start of the Betsafe LKL season and added convincing wins on Sunday evening, while defending champions Zalgiris had to work hard to get past Nevezis in Kedainiai.

Leading the pack with identical 4-0 records, Lietkabelis and Neptunas maintained their one-win lead over their nearest rivals Zalgiris and Lietuvos Rytas, who share 3-1 marks.

Vytautas 78-94 Neptunas

After a close first half of play, Neptunas turned on the afterburners and ran away to a 94-78 victory over Vytautas  thanks to the all-decisive 28-18 performance in the third quarter.

Renaldas Seibutis led the winners with 19 points and 6 reounds, Juan Palacios collected 15 points and 6 boards, while forward Arnas Butkevicius turned in a versatile 12-point, 6-rebound, 6-assist and 5-steal display.

Meanwhile, Tomas Dimsa had a team-high 15 points for the Prienai side, with Eigirdas Zukauskas chipping in with 14 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds.

Lietkabelis 85-73 Siauliai

Lietkabelis inscribed their fourth victory in a row by stopping the newly-powerful Siauliai 85-73 in Panevezys behind terrific well-rounded team play by the Arturs Stalbergs-coached side.

All 12 players got on the board for the hosts with Ksistof Lavrinovic scoring a team-high of 13 points and the trio of Adas Juskevicius, Zanis Peiners and Gary Talton adding 11 points apiece.

Veteran big man Vytautas Sarakauskas had 15 points and 8 rebounds in a losing effort, while Rytis Pipiras knocked down all five of his field goal attempts to get into double figures with 11 points.

Nevezis 66-77 Zalgiris

A slow start had Zalgiris struggling to find their footing for three quarters, but ulrtimately still triumphed by double figures against Nevezis, picking up a 77-66 road victory against the Kedainiai club.

Arturas Milaknis connected on 5-of-6 attempts from beyond the arc for a game-high 19 points, as Vasilje Micic and Edgaras Ulanovas added 10 points apiece.

Mauro Veljacic and Justas Tamulis were the key pieces in an inspired performance for Nevezis, collecting 15 and 14 points, respectively.