“Clean” her Lithuania and ceremoniously qualified for the semi-finals of this year’s Mundobasket Serbia!
Svetislav Pesic’s side imposed their tempo after the first period and ran away with wide margins in the second half, not allowing their opponents to bring out their good elements on the floor and eventually reaching a comfortable victory with 87-68. The winners finished the match with 63% on two-pointers (24/38) and 41% on three-pointers (9/22), while now in the semi-finals they await the winner of the pair Canada-Slovenia. As for Lithuania, they also appeared quite tired, after the extra effort they made to reach the big victory against the USA.
Great protagonist for the triumphant o Bogdan Bogdanovic who scored 21 points (18 of them in the first half) with 7/9 two-pointers, 2/4 three-pointers, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, while he had a worthy supporter Petrushev (17 points, 6 rebounds).
On the other hand, for Lithuania, which lined up without Eimantas Bendzius, they stood out Sedekerskis (14 points, 9 rebounds), Yokohamaites (13pts, 9 assists) and Valanciunas (11 points, 4 rebounds).
The match
The contest started with the Lithuanians going in with 4/4 3-pointers and taking a 14-10 lead, before Valanciunas put them ahead 18-12, hitting two shots. However, the Serbians did not lose their concentration and did not allow their opponents to escape, equalizing in 20-20 with a layup by Abramović. The first period ended with Lithuania having the smallest lead (25-24).
Superior n Serbia in the second quarter, it allowed its opponents to score only one shot in its first three minutes, going on an 8-1 run to take a 32-26 lead. With… forward in her attack the impressive Bogdanovic and tying up its defense, Pesic’s team led 41-33 and 46-38 before the Atlanta Hawks guard (who had 18 points on 6/7 2-pointers and 2/3 3-pointers in the first half) hit a 3-pointer from his… house, for the 49-38 of halftime!
THE Lithuania reduce to 43-49 at the beginning of the third period with a three-pointer by Brazdeikis and a beautiful fadeaway by Valanciunas, but Serbia responded immediately with consecutive three-pointers by Nikola and Stefan Jovic, restoring their double-digit lead (48-62). Jokubaitis cut it to 51-62 with a three-pointer of his own, but somewhere around there Lithuania stopped finding offensive solutions, with Serbia going on an 11-4 run, sending the gap to… the edges of 20 points (55-73) at the end of the third period.
THE Serbia did not leave the foot off the gas even in the fourth quarter, rising for the first time to +20 (55-75), while at the same time Lithuania seemed unable to react and attempt the big upset. THE Petrusev gave the… free throw with two consecutive 3-pointers of his own, with the final 87-68 to reflect the image of the match.
The quarters: 25-24, 38-49, 55-73, 68-87
The match statistics
Source: Sport Fm
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