BC Lietuvos Rytas
Encyclopedia : B : BC : BCL : BC Lietuvos Rytas
| Lietuvos Rytas | |
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| Founded | 1997 |
| Arena | Siemens Arena |
| Team Colors | Black, White and Red |
| LKL Championships | 3 |
| ULEB Cup Champions | 1 |
| President | Gedvydas Vainauskas |
| Head Coach | Sharon Drucker |
BC Lietuvos Rytas is the major basketball club of Vilnius, Lithuania and one of two clubs from Vilnius participating in LKL.
Key facts
- Founded in 1997 officially or 1964 historically.
- Home arena for LKL games "Lietuvos Ryto arena" (capacity: 1,700).
- Home arena for Euroleague games "Siemens Arena" (capacity: 11,000).
History
The major basketball team Statyba was established in 1964 in the Soviet Union. That team managed to win Bronze medals in 1979 at the Soviet Union championship. In 1997 it was renamed Lietuvos Rytas Statyba, then just Lietuvos Rytas as the club was bought by major Lithuanian newspaper Lietuvos Rytas. Investitions made the club to be one of two best clubs of Lithuania, the other being BC Žalgiris from second largest city Kaunas. Only these two clubs been LKL champions since independence of Lithuania, and maches played by these two clubs always are fierce and attracts many visitors. Lietuvos Rytas won national championship twice. The first success came in 2000, when Vilnius' side was led by so called "big three" - Ramūnas Šiškauskas, Andrius Giedraitis and Erick Elliott, also combined with youngsters Arvydas Macijauskas and Robertas Javtokas. After two years Lietuvos Rytas repeated their triumph. This time in dramatic seven-game final series and the last game was decided in overtime. Vilnius team played without center Robertas Javtokas, who was seriously injured in motorbike crash. However, due to better relations with ULEB at start, Žalgiris Kaunas was granted place in Euroleague while Lietuvos Rytas wasn't; when Lietuvos Rytas decided to join ULEB it was too late already and they were given just a place in second ranking tournament ULEB cup.In 2005 they won the ULEB cup tournament and this granted them place in Euroleague, major European basketball club tournament. Team started that season fluently, winning 9 of 10 games in the group stage. However in last group game team leader Frederick House was injured and that injury ended his season and headcoach Vlade Djurovic resigned just after that and was replaced by Tomo Mahoric. But newcomer Tyrone Nesby, Latvian playmaker Robert Štelmahers and inspirational Lithuanian trio - Robertas Javtokas, Simas Jasaitis and Tomas Delininkaitis led the team and managed to overcome all oponents.
Achievements
- BBL champions - 2006
- ULEB cup champions - 2005
- NEBL champions - 2002
- LKL champions - 2000, 2002, 2006
- LKL regular season winners - 2002, 2003, 2006
Tournaments
Takes part in the following tournaments: In past participated in:- ULEB Cup
- Suproleague
- FIBA European Cup
- NEBL
Current squad 2005\/06
''The numbers are established according to the official website [bc.lrytas.lt]
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External links
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