The German side snapped a three-game losing skid
Hamburg splits season series with Lietkabelis with 84-77 triumph
Veolia Towers Hamburg split the season series against 7Bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys with a come-from-behind 84-77 victory in Germany in a matchup of teams that had already been eliminated from playoff contention. Hamburg, which had lost 91-68 in Lithuania in Round 7, rallied from 17 points down (44-61) to improve to 4-12. The hosts snapped a three-game losing streak.
Johnathan Stove scored 22 points, Kur Kuath collected 14 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals and Jordan Barnett also had 14 points. Lietkabelis has now lost four in a row to fall to 4-12. Dorde Gagic netted a career-high 27 points and 6 rebounds and Oleksandr Kovliar added 16 points and 9 assists in the loss.
Game Videos
Gagic started strong for the visitors with two scores in a 2-9 early lead. Gagic added 4 free throws as Lietkabelis went up 8-17. Hamburg knocked down 3 straight triples to get within 19-21. The Lithuanians answered, however, with their first 2 three-pointers and led 19-29 after 10 minutes.
Hamburg had the better start to the second quarter with a 7-2 spurt to make it 26-31 with 4 points from Kuath. The inside battle with Gagic continued as the Lietkabelis big man added 4 more points. A Barnett triple finished an 8-0 surge for Hamburg’s first lead, which was the first of four straight lead changes. Then Kovliar scored 7 points in a 0-10 run over nearly 3 minutes for a 38-47 lead. Stove’s buzzer-beater at the end of the first half made it 42-47.
Gagic did not slow down in the second half with 8 points and Kovliar added a three-pointer in a 2-14 start to the third quarter to lead 44-61. Lietkabelis’s offense went cold for 4 minutes and Stove and Ivey made triples to trim the deficit to 52-61. And another Stove buzzer-beater at the end of the third quarter had Hamburg down just 55-63.
Stove added a three-point play to start the final frame and Jared Grey free throws made it 62-65. Hamburg would not give up and knotted the game at 68-68 midway through the fourth quarter. An Ivey putback put Hamburg ahead 72-71 and the Hamburg guard added free throws to lead 74-71. Lietkabelis reclaimed the lead, but Hamburg punched back with a 10-0 run with Barnett hitting the dagger three-pointer to make it 84-75 with 50 seconds left.