LiAngelo Ball Drops Team-High 16 Points, LaMelo Struggles in Lietuvos Rytas Loss

The Ball brothers couldn't prevent Prienu Vytautas from getting blown out by Lietuvos Rytas on Saturday, losing 104-71, though LiAngelo Ball had a solid game.

The 19-year-old had a team-high 16 points to go along with six rebounds, two assists and a steal. His younger brother, LaMelo, struggled. He had seven points, four rebounds, four assists and a steal, shooting a woeful 2-of-15 from the field, 1-of-9 from beyond the arc and 2-of-5 from the charity stripe.

After the game, Vytautas head coach Virginijus Seskus said he gave 16-year-old LaMelo a longer leash than he has in the past, essentially to prove a point, per Josh Martin of Lonzo Wire:

"Today, I wanted to let him play and show that it's hard to play against a more powerful opponent. They play in those tournaments of theirs, score 40 each. ... Maybe it's late now, but we need to show the reality of Lithuanian basketball, that anyone cannot just come over and play.

"So I let him play more today for them to see that playing this style of basketball that they want to play, you will lose against every single LKL team. We looked at this game as some kind experiment to play that style of play."

Seskus appeared to be responding to the consistent critiques from LaVar Ball, who has insisted that playing his sons together in a more free-flowing style would lead to success for Vytautas.