- You can find the photos of this game in our photo gallery.
Lithuania finished the second group stage at the helm of Group E with a clean 5-0 record whereas Latvia lost two out of the five games, but finished just a step below the Lithuanians.
The hosts started the game strong and went ahead by double-digits at 13-2 mainly because of the eight points that Jonas Valanciunas scored in the opening four minutes of the game.
Latvia didn’t want to repeat the scenario of previous games where Lithuania ran away early and had a solid lead throughout the second half and got back within three at 26-29. Lithuania, on the other hand, answered with a 13-2 run, which gave a 42-30 lead at halftime.
The home team had all of their efforts to increase the distance cut short with very accurate long-range shooting by the Latvians, who knocked down a couple of three-pointers one after another to get Latvia back into the game at 75-73.
However, Lithuania played the end of the game better and finished by far the hardest game they’ve had this tournament with a narrow win.
Jonas Valanciunas led the scoring with 22 points and 17 rebounds, Vytenis Cizauskas scored 16 adding 6 boards and 6 assists as Deividas Pukis and Zygimantas Skucas finished the game with 10 each.
