Lithuania erased a 14-point deficit against Great Britain to clinch a 90-80 (17-24. 20-20, 31-19, 22-17) victory in the last friendly game before the Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
Although Great Britain has lost all exhibition games this summer, they dominated during the first half against Lithuania. Team GB took a 14-point lead after a 15-0 run after technical fouls by Sarunas Jasikevicius and Linas Kleiza.
However, a perfect second half by Martynas Pocius allowed Lithuania to come back and get back in front, with Deividas Dulkys making a three-pointer to make the score 49-47.
“We played the second half with a lot of energy. During halftime, we talked that we’ll have to play hard on defense. At moments, we really did manage to do so,” said the Kestutis Kemzura, th coach of the Lithuanian national team.
After the game, Kemzura also announced the final roster for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Venezuela. Simas Jasaitis, who has health issues, as well as Adas Juskevicius and Antanas Kavaliauskas were the three last players to be left out of the team.
Martynas Pocius hit all four three-pointers and dished out four assists on the way to a game-high 18 points, Sarunas Jasikevicius scored 16, while Robertas Javtokas and Jonas Maciulis chipped in nine points each for Lithuania.
For Great Britain, Kyle Johnson had 18, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, who made 10-of-20 free-throw shots finishd the game with 16, while Joel Freeland added 14 points.
Lithuanian national team's roster for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament:
Rimantas Kaukenas, Mantas Kalnietis, Jonas Maciulis, Martynas Pocius, Tomas Delininkaitis, Darius Songaila, Linas Kleiza, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Jonas Valanciunas, Robertas Javtokas, Deividas Dulkys, Paulius Jankunas.
