Down 15 points with 12 minutes to play, Zalgiris Kaunas roared 
back for a 65-72 Group B road win over Krka in Novo Mesto, 
Slovenia on Thursday to keep hope alive for the Top 16. 
Zalgiris raised its record to 6-7, which put it in a fifth-
place tie with Panathinaikos, which lost at Unicaja. 
Nonetheless, due to tiebreak disadvantages with several teams 
above it, Zalgiris needs to beat CSKA at home in the final game 
of the season and hope that is enough to keep it in the Top 16, 
perhaps as the best sixth-place wildcard team. Arvydas Sabonis 
was again the main man for Zalgiris, scoring 17 points that 
included 5 after the game was tied with under 2 minutes left. 
Dainius Salenga followed him with 14 points, Tanoka Beard 12, 
Ainars Bagatskis and Ed Cota 10 each. For Krka, whose record 
fell to 2-11, Jure Balazic put up 15 points, Slavko Duscak 14 
and Rick Rickert 12. 

Krka coach Petar Skansi started with an unusual starting five, 
including Srdjan Subotic at a guard position. The game opened 
with easy points from Sabonis, while Krka big man Marton Bader 
and Clarence Gilbert could not connect on three attempts from 
downtown. Boris Gnjidic eventually equalled for the hosts, but 
with a lot of misses on both sides, not more points were scored 
until the minute 6, when Rick Rickert found a basket a 4-2 Krka 
lead. Gilbert would soon make the game's first three-pointer 
for a 7-4 home lead, while the Krka defense put together a 
stronger and stronger performance, particulary stopping Sabonis. 
Some great plays by Dainuis Salenga for Zalgiris were followed 
by 5 points from Slavko Duscak and a layup by Gilbert that kept 
Krka iin front, 16-13, after 10 minutes. 

Krka increased its lead to start the second quarter as Rickert 
and Duscak added to their point totals to make it 22-14. That 
advantage melted, however, as Ed Cota and Tanoka Beard brought 
Zalgiris within 24-20 after 16 minutes. Krka had its own 
Lithuanian shooter to put on the court now, Mindzaugas 
Budzinauskas, and as soon as he got there, he improved the 
hosts' lead to 27-20. But shortly, 4 points in a row by Cota 
and a dunk from Beard got Zalgiris back within a single point, 
at 27-26, with 3 minutes to go in the quarter. Beard was the 
man who gave Zalgiris its second lead of the game, 27-28, but 
Rickert immedately answered for Krka with his 12 point. Marko 
Antonijevic kept Krka going with a basket before youngster 
Balazic scored from downtown to complete a 9-1 run with a 36-29 
home lead at the half. 

The new half started with Sabonis returning to the court for 
Zalgiris after having rested the entire second quarter. Krka's 
kid Balazic scored two times in a row from downtown for a 44-31 
lead for Krka after 24 minutes. Bader added his first points to 
further increase Krka's lead to 46-31, the top advantage of the 
game. That 10-2 run by Krka was stopped by Sabonis, whose 
basket woke up his teammates. Cota scored his first three-
pointer, but that was answered by 4 points in a row from Duscak. 
Krka still led late in the quarter, but Airnas Bagatskis 
started the big Zalgiris comeback when his three-pointer cut 
the differenct to 53-44 after 30 minutes. 

To start the fourth quarter, Mindaugas Timinskas joined the 
Zalgiris sharpshooters, and after Beard put in a shot near the 
basket, the guests were within 53-49 based on an 0-11 partial 
score that bridged the final two quarters. Soon after Balazic 
scored his 15th point, Zalgiris answered with another three-
pointer from Bagatskis that made it a game, at 59-56, with 6 
minutes to go. Zalgiris missed its next four three-point 
attempts, while Gilbert nailed one of his own to keep Krka up 
62-56. Sabonis scored now for Zalgiris, and Salenga made a 
steal and layup for a 64-62 scoreboard with 2 minutes to go. 
After a pair of Bagatskis free throws tied it, then came 
Sabonis time. The Zalgiris legend turned around the scoreboard 
with 5 points in a row to put his team up 64-69 with less than 
a minute to go. Gilbert and Duscak then missed triples for Krka 
and Zalgiris had the victory it needed to keep fighting for the 
Top 16.

Jernej Tisu, Novo Mesto