Lithuania’s journey to 2011 FIBA Under-19 World Championship glory (Part 4)
Game-7: Lithuania 87 – Poland 75
Jonas Valanciunas led Lithuania with outrageous stats, as they defeated Poland by 87-75 in quarterfinal of 2011 FIBA U-19 World Championship on July 8, 2011. With this victory the Lithuanians qualified for semifinal of the tournament.
Valanciunas made a game winning double-double, in which he 26 points and clutched 24 rebounds. While his colleague Vytenis Cizauskas racked 13 points, grasped seven rebounds and catered six assists for Lithuania.
The first quarter had some tight minutes, as both teams were going head to head, before Lithuania found in roads into the tough defence of Poland and outscored them with a 9-2 spurt that pushed the score to 22-15 lead at the end of the first period.
The one way traffic continued in the second quarter as well as Lithuania set the court on fire with their 20-0 burst to claim another quarter in their favour by 64-57.
Polish squad, which looked down and out in the first half, made a comeback in the third quarter and slashed the shortfall to just seven by the time period ended.
However, Lithuania cold Poland down in the final quarter with their 12-0 blitz for which Polish squad has no answer. Later in the final few minutes of the quarter Lithuania made their last run and seized the game in their favour by 12 points.
For Poland, Michal Michalak scored a game-high 29 points together with 13 rebounds and two dimes.
Game-8: Lithuania 85 – Russia 68
Jonas Valanciunas powered Lithuania with his game winning double-double, as they routed Russia 85-68 in the 1/2 Finals of 2011 FIBA U-19 World Championship on July 9, 2011. Lithuania overwhelmed from the paint as they shot 84 percent in comparison to Russia’s
66.7 percent shooting.
It took Valanciunas 35 minutes to reckon 21 points and 13 rebounds to achieve another double-double during the tournament. During his stay on court Jonas went eight of ten from the field and hit five of seven from the free throw line. Dovydas Redikas made
13 and Zygimantas Skucas added 12 points for Lithuania.
The green machines got into the groove early in the quarter and Rolandas Jakstas set the court on fire when he instigated 13-0 blitz and finished the first quarter proceedings by punching 11 points.
Lithuania led Russia by 25-11 going into the second quarter. Russia’s problems get worsen with the time, as Lithuania outrebounded them during the period and extended their lead to 27 points, when the first half ended.
After the break Russia pulled back, as Dmitry Kulagin stepped up for them and tallied first 14 points of his team and cut the deficit to 20, as they head into the final quarter of the game.
Russia made a cosmetic surge early in the fourth quarter and scored quick five points that brought the Lithuania’s lead down to 15 points, Sergey Karasev led the surge. However, Lithuania did not lost their composure and first half lead proved just too much
for Russia. Lithuania steered away with a 17-point victory.
Kulagin was the top scorer for Russia, scored 27 points together with three rebounds and two assists. Team-mate Alexander Tikhonin made 13 points and grasped 4 rebounds for his side.
Final-Game: Lithuania 85 – Serbia 67
Jonas Valanciunas proved his worth when it matter the most, as he marshalled Lithuania to the gold medal after over throwing Serbia by 85-67 in the Final of the 2011 FIBA U-19 World Championship on July 10, 2011.
Valanciunas was declared the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, as the centre was at the top of the leading scorers chart. In the final game Jonas tallied 36 points a game-high and grabbed eight rebounds too. Edgaras Ulanovas hit 12 and Vytenis Cizauskas
added nine points for Lithuania.
Lithuania struggled to deal with the Serbian forward Djordje Drenovac in the beginning, before Valanciunas and Ulanovas teamed up and shared 13 points between them in the first quarter. At the close of the quarter finished Lithuania led Serbia by 18-13.
However, things started going Serbia’s way as Bojic Vojusevic spurred on the reeling squad and they moved within four. After a Lithuania’s timeout Drenovac drained one in from the three-point range and slashed the shortfall to just one.
Before Cizauskas capped the Lithuanians surge with his floater and went into the lockers with an extended 39-32 advantage.
As the Lithuanians lost the momentum after the break, so Serbians availed the opportunity and tied the scores half way into the quarter, Vojusevic led the rally. Just when it seemed that the Serbs are about to take over the lead, Lithuania charged back into
the game by using an 18-3 spurt and changed the map of the game. During the rally major contributions came from Valanciunas and Cizauskas.
Lithuania started the final quarter with a 62-47 advantage. Still the Serbs refused to give in and like a good team gave Lithuanians a tough fight, but failed to cover the third quarter gap in the end. Lithuania cruised to the victory by 18 points.
Drenovac led Serbia with 14 points, four rebounds and one assist. His fellow Bogdan Bogdanovic made 13 points for his side.
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