LITHUANIA bucked a rare slow start, beating Greece, 92-67, for its fourth win in as many games at the 2023 Fiba Basketball World Cup on Friday at MOA Arena in Pasay City.
FC Barcelona’s Rokas Jokubaitis had 19 points as Lithuania secured a quarterfinal berth ahead of a faceoff with Team USA, also unbeaten in four games.
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The Greeks led by four at the halftime break before Lithuania launched back-to-back triples to start the second half and capture the lead.
From there, it was a one-sided Lithuanian affair as a late barrage of three-pointers saw the lead rise to as many as 27 points.
"We have a lot of motivation. We have young guys in the locker room who are really hungry and dedicating everything to the fight on the court. I think we have everything we need in that (Lithuania) locker room," Jonas Valanciunas said.
"Every game is special (and) we treat each one as if it's our last. We fight (hard) every game regardless of the opponent, 100 percent," he added.
For Greece, the World Cup run will end in Round 2 after one last game against Montenegro on Sunday.
The scores:
Lithuania (92) - Jokubaitis 19, Brazdeikis 18, Valanciunas 15, Bendzius 15, Motiejunas 8, Dimsa 6, Kuzminskas 5, Sirvydis 3, Normantas 3, Kariniauskas 0, Sedekerskis 0, Maldunas 0.
Greece (67) - Walkup 21, Larentzakis 17, Papapetrou 9, Rogkavopoulos 7, Moraitis 5, Papagiannis 4, Lountzis 2, Antetokounmpo 2, Bochoridis 0, Papanikolaou 0, Chatzidakis 0, Mitoglou DNP.
Quarterscores: 20-20; 39-43; 64-58; 92-67.
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