EUROCUP - Lieutuvos Rytas come from behind to beat Khimki in final

TURIN (Eurocup) - Lieutuvos Rytas hit back from a 14-point deficit in the second half to beat BC Khimki in the Eurocup final on Sunday in Italy.

Lithuania international Marjonas Petravicius was voted MVP of the title game after pouring in 20 points and pulling down seven rebounds.

Triumphant coach Rimas Kurtinaitis, a former Lithuania national team star, spoke about his team's success.

"We played better, played with our heart," he said.

"We believed in our victory and we played even though we were behind."

Khimki boss Sergio Scariolo, who was appointed the coach of Spain's national team earlier this year, congratulated the champions and said: "They kept fighting and playing and deserved it in the last minutes.

"From our side, I can say obviously we cannot be happy now.

"The last quarter I don't know if we ran out of gas or we just played not to lose, instead of playing to win."

Lietuvos Rytas won 85-79 over Benetton Treviso in the Quarter-Finals on Thursday and on Saturday advanced to the Final after a 73-68 victory over Hemofarm Stada.

Chuck Eidson, the MVP of the Eurocup during the Regular Season, contributed 14 points, four assists and four rebounds for the winners.

Khimki got 20 points from Kelly McCarty and 16 from Argentina international Carlos Delfino.

The Russian team had to win a couple of close games against Spanish opposition to win the Eurocup.

They edged Pamesa Valencia 76-73 on Friday and followed that up with a 79-73 win over iurbentia Bilbao.

FIBA