Joel Freeland leads Unicaja to an overtime victory over Zalgiris Kaunas: Euroleague Basketball Recap
Joel Freeland scored seven of his 21 points in overtime as Unicaja beat Zalgiris Kaunas 85-78 on October 25, 2011 at Martin Carpena Arena in Malaga, Spain. It was Zalgiris’ second consecutive loss in the 2011-12 Turkish Airlines
Euroleague season.
Freeland came up big for Unicaja with a double-double, adding 21 points on 10 for 17 shooting from two-point range, and grabbing 12 rebounds.
Kristaps Valters was another standout, scoring 20 points, including 4 of 9 three-point attempts. The 30-year-old guard nailed two clutch three-pointers in overtime as Unicaja bounced back from their 98-77 defeat to defending champions
Panathinaikos in the first game of the season. Valters also dished out seven assists and stole the ball twice. Tremmell Darden was another prominent for Unicaja with 10 points and six rebounds.
Sonny Weems, the Toronto Raptors forward, led Zalgiris with 21 points and eight rebounds while Marko Popovic had 18 points and six boards. Mantas Kalnietis also added 11 points for Zalgiris. On the night, turnovers continued to
be the main problem for Zalgiris as they committed 20 compared to just nine by the hosts.
Both teams were able to keep the game close early in the first quarter. With nearly two minutes to go in the frame, Tadas Klimavicius drilled an open three-pointer to put Kaunas ahead by 17-15. Unicaja responded with three consecutive
free throws for an 18-17 edge, but Weems slipped in a two-pointer to give his team the lead again. In the closing minutes of the period, Unicaja regained the advantage by scoring five unanswered points.
Zalgiris established a dominant pace in the second quarter, outscoring Unicaja 20-8, and held an impressive 39-30 lead at halftime.
Unicaja however turned it around in the third quarter. They started off with a 10-0 barrage and converted their halftime deficit into a 40-39 lead early. Zalgiris struck back though and limited Unicaja to nine points in the last
six minutes of the period, going into the final ten minutes with a three-point lead.
In the fourth quarter, Unicaja upped their ante and trimmed the deficit to 66-65 late in the game, before Ty Lawson hit a free throw to make it 67-65 for Zalgiris. However, Berni Rodriguez saved the game for Unicaja with a pair
of free throws and made it 67-67.
Marco Popovic hit two free throws early in the overtime as Kaunas cruised ahead by 69-67. Unicaja then got down to business with nine straight points and did not trail for rest of the period.
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