Lithuania shut down Dirk Nowitzki and took an 84-75 (21-17, 16-16, 21-19, 26-23) victory against Germanay after pulling away late in
the fourth quarter to book a place in the next round of EuroBasket in Kaunas.
Despite leading for most of the game, the Lithuanians
allowed Germany to get back and tie it at 75-75 with two minutes
remaining, but from that moment on the visitors didn’t score and Lithuania
cruised to the win safely.
The hosts of EuroBasket could’ve lost by up to 10 points
and would still have made the next stage, while even a 9 point loss would’ve
still guaranteed them the third place. Lithuania ended up third in the group,
below Spain and France, which managed to win against the Lithuanians.
Rimantas Kaukenas scored 19 points for Lithuania,
Sarunas Jasikevicius had 17, while Jonas Valanciunas chipped in 15 points
behind a very good fourth quarter.
Lithuanians couldn’t stop Chris Kaman, who finished
the game with 25 points and 11 rebounds, but Germany’s top player Dirk Nowitzki
needed 25 shots to collect 16 points. The young Robin Benzing did not miss a
shot on his way to 18 points, but didn’t contribute much in other categories.
