Lithuania’s journey to 2011 FIBA Under-19 World Championship glory (Part 3)
Game-5: USA 107 – Lithuania105
On July 5, Lithuania’s winning streak came to end, as USA managed to squeak past them in a 107-105 overtime victory.
Jonas Valanciunas was the top scorer for Lithuania with 30 points and 15 rebounds. He played for 38 minutes during which he shot at 55 percent from the field and 80 percent from the free throw line. Edgaras Ulanovas also made 29
points clutched four rebounds and catered two assists.
In contrast to the previous games, in which they blew away in the first quarter, Lithuania failed to make an impression this time as their defence failed to keep a check on the Americans, who raced to a 25-15 lead after the first
10 minutes.
Lithuanian picked up the pace in the second quarter and tallied 24 points. However, they again failed to shore up their backcourt as USA matched them point for point to take a 49-39 lead into halftime.
Lithuania stepped up the ante after the break and eventually managed to break even at 94 deep inside the regulation time, thus pushing the game into extra time.
However after making a brilliant effort down the stretch, Lithuania failed to make the best of the opportunity, as USA managed to squeak away with by a two point margin.
Jeremy Lamb led USA with his game-high 35 points, four rebounds and two assists. Lamb had an excellent night and finished with 13 of 23 shooting from the field, including five of seven from the three-point range, and four of five
from the charity stripe. Joe Jackson also canned 19 points along with five rebounds and six assists for USA.
Game-6: Lithuania 78 – Egypt 59
After failing to lead his team to a win over mighty American side, Jonas Valanciunas erupted with yet another double-double to lead Lithuania to a 78-59 win over Egypt on July 6, 2011. With this victory, the Lithuanians seized
their fifth win during the U-19 contest.
Valanciunas made 17 point and grasped 13 rebounds while Renaldas Simanavicius scored 14 and Deividas Pukis came up with 13 points.
Lithuania rattled the Egyptians with a 23-9 spurt and secured the first quarter. They kept on pounding the Egyptians in the second quarter as well and carried a 46-25 advantage into the break.
Egyptians fought back after the break and limited the Lithuanians to just 17 points but the magnitude of the first half assault by Lithuania was so much that by the end of the third quarter they were still leading Egypt by 63-42.
The Egyptians were in a 21-point hole going into the final 10 minutes of the game. It didn’t change much after that as Lithuania romped to a 19 point win. Assem Ahmed led Egypt with his 23 points, 19 rebounds and three steals,
while Omar Mohamed added 14 points.
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