7bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys cruised to its first win in the 2023-24 BKT EuroCup, downing Aris Midea Thessaloniki 83-74 at Kalnapilio Arena in Group B on Tuesday. Powering the boards was arguably the biggest key to this game.
Lietkabelis dominated the boards to beat Aris
Lietkabelis out-rebounded Aris by 46-37. It led 22-18 in rebounds at halftime, allowing Aris to get 10 offensive boards and only getting 5 under the guests' rim. The hosts picked up as many as 12 first-half turnovers, which prevented Coach Roberts Stelmahers's team from getting a bigger halftime lead. Nonetheless, Lietkabelis buried 7 of 12 three-pointers which, added to its good rebounding numbers, allowed the hosts to take a 43-36 advantage into intermission.
Lietkabelis fixed its problems in the second half, cutting turnovers to just 6 after the break. The hosts rebounded even better at both ends, too. Lietkabelis pulled down 10 offensive rebounds after the break, getting almost as many defensive boards (14) as Aris. The guests were able to pull just 5 more offensive boards after halftime, 25% of all rebounds under Lietkabelis's basket. The hosts ended up burying 11 of 25 three-pointers (44.0% 3FG) on the night. Aris took more three-point shots, 28, but hit just 7 of them (25%).
"This is a big part of our victory, [cutting] turnovers," Coach Stelmahers said after the game. "This was dragging us down a little bit with their pressure but we managed [to get the win] and I am happy for the team."
Lietkabelis has managed to out-rebound both of its opponents so far. In 76-65 road loss against Buducnost VOLI Podgorica in Round 1, it nonetheless won the battle of the boards, 35-42. In Round 2, Vytenis Lipkevicius was his team's top rebounder with 9 boards, followed by Gediminas Orelik (8) and Nikola Popovic (7).
So far, Lietkabelis is averaging 44.0 rebounds in two games, way better than in the 2022-23 campaign, when its rebounders grabbed 35.0 boards over 19 games.