EUROLEAGUE – Milaknis defense, big shots lift Zalgiris to narrow win over Khimki

KAUNAS (Euroleague) - Zalgiris guard Arturas Milaknis only scored six points on Thursday night, but they came on hugely important three-pointers in the fourth quarter and helped propel the Lithuanian club to its fourth triumph in five games.

The Kaunas outfit won 73-65 at home over BC Khimki (2-3) in Group A.

At the beginning of the last quarter, Russia international Vitaly Fridzon hit a long bomb to give Khimki a 57-54 advantage.

Milaknis answered with a three of his own to knot the contest.

Then with Zalgiris on top 61-60 midway through the period, Milaknis struck again from behind the arc.

When Zalgiris sharpshooter Dainius Salenga hit another three, the lead was 67-60 and the hosts held on.

Milaknis finished two of five from long range in almost 24 minutes of action.

While he didn't have any assists or rebounds, statistics do not always tell the whole story.

Coach Aco Petrovic was more than happy with his performance.

"Milaknis' task was defense," Petrovic said.

"He is able to stop our opponents' best players, so maybe he ran out of energy on offense.

"But I trust him and I am happy with his game."

Also in Group A, Maccabi Tel Aviv blew away winless Asseco Prokom 99-58 for their fourth triumph in a row.

Chuck Eidson had 20 points for Maccabi, while Lior Eliyahu led the Israeli giants' rebounding effort.

He had nine boards to go with his seven points.

In Group D, Efes Pilsen opened up an 18-point lead at the start of the second half but blew it and trailed 64-63 at the start of the fourth quarter following a basket by CKSA's JR Holden.

Kerem Tunceri, who hit the game-winning shot against Serbia to put Turkey into the FIBA World Championship this summer, drilled a three-ball to put Efes back in front to stay.

Lawrence Roberts played for Dusko Vujosevic last year at Partizan Belgrade, but he's with Efes now and his lay-up four minutes into the last quarter extended the lead to 68-64.

Efes ended up outscoring CSKA 23-12 in the last quarter and won 86-72.

Efes improved to 3-2 while CSKA fell to 1-4.

In the other Group D game, Panathinaikos claimed an 81-71 victory at Armani Jeans Milano.

Dimitris Diamantidis had 14 points and both Milenko Tepic and Mike Batiste 13 in the win.

Pana are 4-1 while Armani Jeans are now 2-3.

Joel Freeland and Augusto Cesar Lima led the way for Unicaja Malaga in a 69-65 come-from-behind victory at Brose Baskets Bamberg in Group B.

Great Britain international Freeland had 19 points and 2.06m power forward Lima, who only turned 19 in September, finished with 14 points and eight rebounds.

Aito Garcia Reneses' team trailed 51-43 going into the last quarter but went on a 21-2 run and eventually claimed their third victory in five games.

Bamberg are undefeated in Germany and went into Thursday's home clash with two wins in four Euroleague games, but they didn't execute well - especially in the fourth quarter.

FIBA