

Dolomiti Energia Trento finished the calendar year in style. After shocking Dreamland Gran Canaria a week ago, Trento doubled-down with a big 76-70 win over 7bet-Lietkabelis Paneveyzs, its direct rival in the playoff race.
Trento held the visitors, a dangerous shooting team, to just 7-of-25 (28.0%) from long range. Gediminas Orelik was just 2-of-8 and Paulius Valinskas 0-of-3. In the first half, Trento allowed just 27 points.
"Our defense made the difference", stated Trento's Lithuanian forward Andrejs Grazulis, who paced the winning team with 18 points and 7 rebounds.
Grazulis also pointed out: "We still struggled on defensive rebounds, but the defense made up for some mistakes."
The rebounding struggles Grazulis stressed were the 15 offensive rebounds Lietkabelis pulled down to just 5 for Trento.
However, in the fourth quarter, it was Trento that benefited from action on the offensive glass, as it allowed just 1 offensive rebound, while grabbing 3 key offensive boards in the final 3 minutes of the game.
First, Graziulis picked up a miss from Quinn Ellis, and scored a layup that made it 68-61. Then, with 65 seconds left, Kamar Baldwin missed a three-pointer only to get first to the ball before Paul Biligha scored on a second-chance opportunity and extended the lead to 74-63. Finally, Grazulis got another offensive board with 13 seconds left with Trento up 74-67, making sure there would be no drama.
Such timely plays made the difference and allowed Trento to complete a season sweep of Lietkabelis, giving Trento a two-win advantage in the standings.
And with Grazulis consistently posting numbers like in this game, and with Kamar Baldwin flashing serious finishing skills, both from long range and close to the rim, Trento has positioned itself well with five games to go to break its eight-year playoff drought.