FIBA EuroBasket Roundup Day 5: Spain and France win (Part-2)
Spain 91 – Lithuania 79
In a battle to secure the top seed in group A, the defending Champions Spain thrashed Lithuania 91-79 on Sunday evening, clinching their fourth straight victory of the tournament. Spain also booked a place in the second round of
the FIBA European Championship after handing Lithuania their first defeat in 5 days.
Trailing by 7-6 in the preliminary minutes of the first quarter, Spain romped with a 16-0 run to nab a comprehensive 22-7 lead in just seven minutes into the game from where they never looked back. Juan Carlos Navarro was the top
scorer of the night who netted 22 points in 26 minutes of playing time. While, Los Angeles Lakers superstar Pau Gasol finished off with 17 points and 4 rebounds to lead Spain for an electrifying victory.
Jose Manuel Calderon, who was one of the four Spanish players to land in double figures, said after the game.
"We knew we needed a good start and we got a good run early on. We played well from start to finish and we stepped up our game. We are happy to be in the next round but we still have one more game tomorrow and we want to win against
Turkey."
Jonas Valanciunas was the only player in the Lithuania’s line-up who managed to post a decent performance with a team-high 13 points and 3 assists. Rimantas Kaukenas and Martynas Pocius scored 11 points apiece however Lithuanian
team needed a better performance from the duo in the most important first round meeting.
After making a strong impact in the first quarter by wrapping up 31-12 advantage, Spain continued the domination in the second quarter as well and amplified the lead to 26 points going into the halftime.
Lithuania retorted in the second quarter and outplayed the opposition 43-29 however the damage was already done by Spain which earned them a magnificent victory.
France 91 – Italy 84
France triggered a tremendous offensive assault in the fourth quarter against Italy to snatch an exhilarating 91-84 victory and landed their fourth straight win in the first round of FIBA European Championship.
Despite of having NBA All-Star Tony Parker on the bench for the whole fourth quarter, France managed to pull through from 7 points deficit in the last period and romped towards a comprehensive 7-point victory, enabling the team
to remain unbeaten in the tournament.
NBA forwards Boris Diaw and Nicolas Batum were the driving force for France who netted 21 and 20 points respectively. Despite of having a game-high 22 points and five rebounds for Italy, Toronto Raptors dynamic power forward Andrea
Bargnani failed to continue the action down the stretch which opened room for the opposition to break in.
Italy headed out aggressively in the first half of the game and procured 48-41 lead as the game progressed into the second half. France strived to strike back in the third quarter however Italy kept their momentum intact and showed
equal retaliation which ended the period in a tie 19-19.
Reaching towards their second success of the tournament, Italy faced a major setback down the stretch when France ripped them apart by smashing 31 points in the fourth quarter and sealed an amazing victory.
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