Alessandro Magro's men use a strong start to the fourth quarter to finally pull away from the visitors
Wolves survive back and forth, down Joventut 91-80 at home
Wolves Twinsbet Vilnius picked up a crucial victory to start the new year in fighting past Joventut Badalona 91-80 at home as it battles for a playoff spot. Wolves finally opened some space with a 10-2 start to the fourth quarter and now holds a 7-6 record in Group A with a 4-2 mark at home.
Kristupas Zemaitis scored a team-high 17 points for Wolves, with Anthony Cowan collecting 15 points and 9 assists, while Garrison Brooks, Tre’Shawn Thurman, Arnoldas Kulboka and Jeffrey Taylor all chipped in with 10 points apiece. Joventut’s playoff hopes are slowly dying off with a 4-9 record, including 1-6 on the road. The Spanish side, which has lost four of the last five games, was paced by Ante Tomic’s 18 points, with Artem Pustovyi and Kassius Robertson both adding 12 points in the defeat.
Game Videos
The game was tight early, with Pustovyi scoring six points for the guests and Cowan picking up five points as Wolves were ahead 11-8. Joventut had a strong run and took the lead, 13-14, only to see Wolves move back ahead, but it was the Spanish side leading after 10 minutes, 17-18.
Taylor came off the Wolves bench for two scores but Joventut was still up 23-25. Taylor knocked down a triple to finish a 7-0 spurt and Wolves was back ahead 30-25. Sam Dekker sparked the guests and it was 32-34. Robertson followed with two triples and Joventut was up 39-40 at the break.
Neither team could really clear any space in the third quarter either. The biggest cushion was two points as the lead changed hands 17 times in the 10 minutes. Tomic scored 12 points in the period for Joventut while Thurman had eight points for Wolves, which led 66-64 after 30 minutes.
Zemaitis knocked down back-to-back triples to start the fourth quarter and Wolves added two more scores and the advantage was suddenly 76-66 with 6 minutes to play. Guillem Vives did hit a three-pointer for the guests, but Arnoldas Kulboka countered from deep and it was 81-71 with under 5 minutes left. Joventut held Wolves scoreless for more than 2 minutes but managed only two points. Cowan scored a layup and three-pointer to make it 86-73 with 110 seconds to go to decide the game.