LiAngelo Ball Benched in Crunch Time vs. Dzukija; LaMelo Out with Back Injury

LiAngelo Ball scored 14 points but mostly sat on the bench during crunch time as BC Vytautas Prienu suffered another loss Monday. LaMelo Ball also remained on the sidelines with a back injury.

Dzukija finished with an 82-79 win over Vytautas in the Lithuanian Basketball League, leading the entire second half despite a late comeback attempt from the road team.

Vytautas remains in last place in the LKL after falling to 5-21, including 1-7 since the Balls joined the roster. Ten games remain in the season, but it will be an uphill battle to make the playoffs.

LaMelo was active for the game but never saw the court, as he is seemingly still dealing with a back injury that has kept him out of recent contests.

The brothers also left the team to go on vacation in Barcelona last week before returning for the game, per Donatas Urbonas of 24Sek.

It didn't slow down LiAngelo, who had nine points in the first half to keep his squad competitive. However, Dzukija pulled away with a big second quarter, outscoring the visitors 23-11 in the 10-minute span to go up 42-29 at halftime.

The rest of the Vytautas squad didn't provide a lot of help, as Brandon Williams of Fresh Sports Talk indicated:

It's clear LaMelo wasn't healthy enough to contribute in this one.

Vytautas made things interesting in the fourth quarter, cutting a 16-point deficit to one with Gelo on the bench. He was brought back on the court for the final 10 seconds but never touched the ball.

Dzukija hit its free throws down the stretch to stay in front and secure the win, continuing a hot-shooting effort that included a 10-of-22 effort from three-point range.

Vytautas will hope to turn things around in its next match March 25 against Nevezis, the second-worst team in the LKL with a 6-21 record this season.