Lithuania, Serbia and Croatia win - FIBA U-19 World Championship Round-up of July 6, 2011 (Part 1)
Game-1: Lithuania 78 – Egypt 59
Jonas Valanciunas’ efforts didn’t bear any fruit in the last game, but against the Egyptians, the Lithuanian centre scored 17 points and enabled his team to defeat Egypt 78-59 in a Group-F game on Wednesday. With this victory, the Lithuanians grabbed their fifth win of the tournament.
Besides scoring, Valanciunas also clutched 13 rebounds and made a game winning double-double. Renaldas Simanavicius added 14 points and Deividas Pukis made 13 points for Lithuania.
Lithuania outscored the Egyptians with a 23-9 burst and sealed the first quarter in their favour. The Lithuanian side kept the assault going in the second quarter and didn’t allow Egypt to lift them up, leading them by 46-25 at the end of the first half.
After the break, the Egyptian squad came out with a different strategy and restricted Lithuania to 17 points during the period. However, they failed to cut the first half deficit down.
Lithuania led Egypt by 63-42 going into the final quarter and maintained the double-digit lead throughout the period to register the game in their favour.
For Egypt, Assem Ahmed racked 23 points, together with 19 rebounds and three steals, while his team-mate Omar Mohamed chipped in with 14 points.
Game-2: Serbia 94 – Canada 73
In another Group-F encounter on Wednesday, Serbia trounced past Canada 94-73. Small forward Djordje Drenovac led Serbia from the front with 14 points, six rebounds, one assist, steal and a block each.
Serbia tipped of aggressively and out played the Canadians with a 23-14 surge, seizing the quarter in their favour.
The Canadian team remained clueless in the second quarter as well as the Serbian offensive unit didn’t let them settle with their continuous assault. By the time the buzzer went off for halftime, Serbia extended their lead 21 points, guiding Canada by 47-26 advantage.
The Canadian squad needed to tweak their strategy in the third quarter and they did, especially on the offense. However, their defence let them down and it failed to limit Serbian offense. When the third quarter ended Serbia successfully drew another quarter in their favour by 72-46.
Trailing by 26 points at the tip of the fourth quarter, the Canadians showed some responsibility, as they limited Serbia to just 22 points during the period. However, their cosmetic surge did not make much of a difference and Serbians steered the game away with a 21-point margin.
Shooting guard Junior Lomomba remained the major contributor for the Canadians with 14 points on 40 percent shooting from the field, including two long range missiles from the three-point range.
Game-3: Croatia 87 – USA 85
Toni Katic spearheaded Croatia, as they stood firm against a late charge by USA to squeak past them in an 87-85 nerve-wrecking win on Wednesday in a Group-F game.
Katic scored 21 points and distributed four assists along with two rebounds. He dominated the opposition from the field, as he shot 80 percent of his field goals and 62.5 percent from the charity stripe.
Both teams made aggressive moves right from the tip and did not allow each other extend their lead. However, just before the first quarter ended, Croatia pushed the paddle and stepped ahead of United States, as they took hold of the quarter at 25-24.
The battle continued in the second quarter, but by the end of the first half, it was Croatia, who stood out as they were able to secure the straight second period by 46-43.
The first half performance boosted the Croatians and they came charged out of the lockers. They further stretched their lead to 70-61 by the time the third quarter ended.
Just when it looked that USA was about to fade away, they rattled the Croatians as they thumped 24 points during the period and along with that limited the opposition to just 17 points. Still, they fell just three points short to pull an astonishing win.
Jeremy Lamb made game-high 25 points during his 33 minutes for USA. Lamb hit 70 percent of his shot from the floor. Patric Young tallied 15 and Joe Jackson scored 14 points for United States.
Tags: