Lithuania win potential title match over Argentina
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-07-29 21:13

European champion Lithuania stunned Olympic titlist Argentina 83-77 here on Friday to win the potential title match of the Stankovic Continental Champions Cup basketball tournament.

Lithuania squandered an 19-point lead in the first half before falling behind 66-62 early in the fourth quarter. Then the Europeans rallied with a 13-2 run to go up again at 75-68.

Julio Mazzaro made a three-pointer with 54 seconds remaining to pull Argentina within 76-75, but Mindaugas Lukauskis made two from the line two seconds later to make it 78-75.

After the two sides traded free throws, Lithuania went up 80-77 with 30 second left on the clock. Then Mazzaro missed a layup, allowing Martynas Andriukaitits secure the third straight victory of Lithuania at this tournament with a three-pointer play four seconds from the end.

"Our players got tired in the second half, but they found back their energy and won a very hard game," said Lithuania head coach Valdemaras Chomicius.

Lithuania started strongly, racing to a 32-13 lead in the second quarter. Argentina, who had collected two straight big-margin victories over Australia and Angola, fought hard to cut it to 45-37 at the half time.

"We saw their play from their first game," Chomicius added. "We saw how they played their offense and their defense and we had good preparation."

Argentina head coach Sergio Hernandez admitted his side was not as concentrated as its opponent.

"We had too easy wins in the first two games," Hernandez said. " Lithuania is a very strong team. They attached great importance to this match and were more concentrated."

Six teams including the host China are competing in the six-team tournament in a round-robin format. Lithuania, the only team unbeaten after three rounds, was in a good position to win the title.

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