Balls score 29 in Lithuania debut
LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball combined for 29 points in their first professional basketball game Tuesday to lead Prienai Vytautas to a 90-80 victory over Zalgiris’ second team in Prienai, Lithuania.
LiAngelo had 19 points and three rebounds and his younger brother, LaMelo, had 10 points, nine assists and six turnovers. Their parents, LaVar and Tina Ball, sat courtside.
Vytautas, a low-budget team that withdrew from the Baltic league days after the brothers joined the team, announced it would form the Big Baller Brand Challenge, a series of five games. Vytautas usually plays in both the Lithuanian and Baltic leagues, with the Baltic featuring lower-level competition that also involves teams from Estonia and Latvia.
Zalgiris’ second-division team featured the top under-18 players from the elite program in Lithuania.
The game drew more than 120,000 viewers at times to its live broadcast on Facebook.
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