The real celebration came to Utena at the end of the season, when the Juventus team defeated two clubs with a bigger budget, which were considered favorites in the series against Utena.
Utena’s basketball players, who took seventh place in the regular season, eliminated Vilnius “Ryta” (2nd place in the regular season) 2-0 in the quarterfinals, and beat Klaipėda “Neptūnas” (3rd) 3-1 in the semifinals.
Juventus reached the LKL final for the first time in the club’s history, which will start on Sunday in Kaunas with the first match of the series up to three victories against “Žalgiris” Kaunas.
The Utene team, who climbed to the third place in 2015, went into a dance of joy with the fans after the 103:90 win in the last semi-final game on Wednesday in Utena against Neptun.
After the match, the talk was not only about basketball, but also about Ivan Vraneš’s foul – as reported on Monday 15 minutes, The 30-year-old Croatian legionnaire was stopped by police about half a day after Juventus won the quarter-final second leg against Ryta.
May 24 at 7:50 a.m. the basketball player was drunk at the wheel in the city limits of Utena. I. Vraneš was found to have a blood alcohol level of 0.64.
About the detention of an athlete from Croatia 15 minutes confirmed by the Communications Sub-Department of the Chief Police Commissariat of Utena County (VPK).
The Utena club knew about the basketball player’s offense, but did not inform the public about it.
Juventus sports director Eimantas Skersis, when asked on Monday if the Utena club took action after finding out about I. Vraneš’s situation, said: “Yes, we did. We gave a bicycle. Seriously, we gave a bicycle.”
Jokes on this topic continued even after the third victory against “Neptuna”.
“Hey, who’s driving?” – I. Vraneš asked E. Skers, and there was a lot of laughter in the locker room.
The club’s sporting director also laughed: “Not me. Not me this week.”
One of the leaders of Juventus, Lukas Uleckas, when asked by basketnews.lt how he would celebrate the victory, said: “Ivan Vraneš went out to celebrate after Ryta, it was even a shame – he blew only 0.62 per thousand (laughs). We will say that Ivan would not be ashamed: if he drinks, he drinks.”
I. Vraneš himself blamed others for drunken driving.
“These were provocations, someone tried to do it,” delfi.lt quoted the Croat. “Now I’m going through a difficult period in my life. These things spread everywhere – in Lithuania, Greece, Croatia, Serbia. It’s not pleasant, because I’ve been a professional since day one, my teammates can confirm that I’m in the arena all the time, I work extra. But I’m human, I made a mistake, we’ll celebrate the victory. I paid the fine and accepted all the consequences.”
Understand instantly
- Traffic police statistics show:
- in 2023 162 traffic accidents occurred due to the fault of drunk drivers, 14 were killed, 202 were injured
- in 2024 166 traffic accidents occurred due to the fault of drunk drivers, 10 were killed, 201 were injured
- in 2025 (data from 1-11 months) due to the fault of drunk drivers, 112 traffic accidents occurred, 10 were killed, 137 were injured
Juventus coach Laimonas Eglinskas commented more seriously on the basketball player’s drunken driving.
“He doesn’t have a car anymore, he has a bicycle. Of course, you can’t ride a bicycle when you’re drunk. It’s not nice, nobody should do that. If you’re drunk or sleepless, you have to think about yourself and those around you. There are stories when it ends tragically. Now he has a bicycle,” said L. Eglinskas.
The 37-year-old coach noted that the victory against “Neptun” should be celebrated in moderation, as the final with “Žalgiris” awaits.
“We will celebrate in moderation. We want something more. We know what awaits us on Sunday, we want to challenge them. We were combative in the last match. Their strength is a deep squad. They have EuroLeague, European Cup players, whom they may not even register. This is their cruel advantage. We will have a few days to prepare. We need to recover from such a series. We want to celebrate, but do it in moderation,” he said L. Eglinskas.
