Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius announced a coaching change on Friday with Aleksandar Dzikic stepping down and assistant coach Darius Maskoliunas taking over. According to Krepsinis.net, the decision for Dzikic to leave was made mutually after a meeting with management. Another assistant, Srdjan Flajs, also leaves the club with Dzikic. L. Rytas opened its Turkish Airlines Euroleague season on Thursday night with a near-upset of CSKA on the road in Moscow. L. Rytas led by four points with just over a minute left, but CSKA pulled out a 75-73 victory.

Maskoliunas, 41, has Euroleague experience as a player, assistant coach and head coach. He won the Euroleague in 1999 with Zalgiris Kaunas and later coached that team in the 2009-10 season. Maskoliunas also coached Lietuvos Rytas briefly at the end of the 2010-11 season. Last year he led Rytas’s junior team to the title at the International Junior Tournament at the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four in Istanbul. In a distinguished playing career, Maskoliunas also won the Saporta Cup, multiple league titles with Zalgiris in Lithuania and Asseco Prokom in Poland and a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney with the Lithuanian national team.

Courtesy Euroleague