Zalgiris' Brandon Davies (C) vies with CSKA Moscow's Othello Hunter (L) and Semen Antonov during Euroleague Final 4 basketball match in Belgrade, Serbia on May 20, 2018. Zalgiris won the match 79-77 and claimed the third place. (Xinhua/Predrag Milosavljevic)
BELGRADE, May 20 (Xinhua) -- In a match full of twists and turns, Zalgiris of Lithusnia beat Russia's CSKA 79-77 in the 3rd place game of the Euroleague basketball Final Four tournament here on Sunday.
CSKA's Cory Higgins opened the match by scoring seven consecutive points, but Zalgiris managed to keep up their early lead and finish the first quarter with a three-point lead.
Vasilije Micic's good run continued in the second quarter, and he was assisted by Edgaras Ulanovas, to give Zalgiris a six-point lead. The teams turned with the score 35-41 for Zalgiris.
The first half was sealed by Mikhail Kulagin's amazing hit from across the court at the last second, but he was denied by the referees after a review as he was judged to have made a travelling violation beforehand.
Zalgiris continued to be strong in the second half, while CSKA failed to break through their tight defense, allowing Uljanovas and Paulius Jankunas to increase the gap to 24 points.
CSKA started the final period with two consecutive three-pointers and ended up closing the gap to just two points with two amazing three-pointers from Kulagin in a stunning late recovery.
Micic and Jankunas scored 15 points each for Zalgiris, while Kulagin and Othello Hunter scored 14 points each for CSKA.
After the match, the coach of Zalgiris, Sarunas Jasikevicius said that the game caused his hair to "grow even more grey." He also went on to say that his team lost concentration and thought the game was over too early.
This was confirmed by his players. Beno Udrih said that Zalgiris took advantage of the low morale in CSKA in the best possible way and won the match, while Micic said that the game was uncertain until the end because Zalgiris lost concentration in the last five minutes.
CSKA's Nando de Colo said he was disappointed but that the team already tasted this feeling in the defeat two days ago to Real Madrid in the semi-final.
