LiAngelo Ball Scores 18 in Loss to Lietuvos Rytas; LaMelo Out with Back Injury

LiAngelo Ball scored a team-high 18 points as BC Vytautas Prienu lost 83-76 to BC Lietuvos Rytas on Saturday at Prienai Arena in Lithuania.

Ball, who entered the contest as the team's leading scorer in Lithuanian Basketball League play with 13.8 points per game, connected on six of his 11 shots from the field. He also chipped in two rebounds, two assists and a steal in 30 minutes of action.

His brother LaMelo missed the LKL contest because of a back injury but is expected to return next week.

Vytautas, which won its first league game since early December against BC Siauliai last time out, continued to show signs of improvement against Lietuvos Rytas. The visitors entered the day second in the standings and winners of 11 straight in LKL play.

Ball helped lead a second-half surge, and the league's cellar-dwellers took a one-point lead early in the fourth quarter. They were tied at 66 with under eight minutes to play, but the title contenders pulled away.

Former Rhode Island standout Jimmy Baron Jr. scored 20 points for Lietuvos Rytas to lead all scorers.

It was another strong offensive showing for Ball, who knocked down a pair of three-pointers in five tries and got to the free-throw line six times, making four of those attempts. His defense could still use a lot of work, though the same could be said of most of the Vytautas lineup. Ball finished the game with a minus-nine plus-minus.

Rytis Kazlauskas of ZalgirisTV analyzed the forward's performance:

Looking ahead, Vytautas Prienu returns to the floor next Saturday for an LKL road game against BC Neptunas Klaipeda at Svyturio Arena.