IZMIR (FIBA World Championship) - Lithuania has secured a controversial and dramatic 70-68 win over Canada. Jermaine Anderson had a chance to win the game for Canada on the final buzzer but his three pointer lipped off the rim.
Canada appeared to have the game secured midway through the third quarter when they led by 17, but the physicality of Lithuania at both ends of the court literally locked the Canadians down and set up the dramatic run that brought the 2000 travelling Lithuanian fans to fever pitch.
The hero for Lithuania was Tomas Delininkaitis who spearheaded the half court offence and added 11 points of his own. Linas Kleiza (18 points, 10 rebounds) and Martynas Pocius were also strong contributors.
Anderson has 15 points, 5 assists and 4 steals in an excellent display, supported by Joel Anthony (12 points, 5 rebounds) and Denham Brown (11 points).
Canada led by 10 at half time, securing their break with a fast start where they led 7-0 after less than 90 seconds.
The Canadians unpredictable trapping defence and transition offence was giving the structured Lithuanians trouble, shooters Andy Rautins and Brown with five points each in a 20-12 quarter time lead.
As with day one, Lithuania upped the physicality in the second quarter and created a half court affair. Behind Kleiza's seven points for the quarter they closed to 29-32 with 3:31 to play in the half. But three consecutive field goals from Anthony, including a strong tip in, triggered an 11-4 Canada run to finish the quarter.
When Canada peeled off 13-6 in the first five minutes of the third term behind six points from Anderson the game was almost over at 56-39, but Delininkaitis sparked the Lithuanian surge that brought their fans to life, and Kleiza finished it, nailing a buzzer beating three to have Lithuania within two, 57-55.
While Canada hung tough in the final quarter, Lithuania's half court execution was superior, and they managed to hold on in a thriller.
Quotes
Leo Rautins (coach): A lot of credit to Lithuania, they played a really good game. They're a real difficult opponent for us to play against. We tried a few different things, and I thought we did enough to win the game, but unfortunately in the end we didn't get it done. With our team, every game at this level hopefully makes us better.
I haven't seen Jermaine (Anderson) miss too many shots where he had the chance to win the game for us. He had a great game today.
Kestutis Kemzura (coach): We are just approaching each game. Results in this championship, a lot of people call surprises but they are not. The basketball level around the world is getting very, very close.
Canada played well, they played great. It took us some time to figure out the ways how to win. We got some good open looks and we missed, and we missed foul shots. Rebounding again -- finally our guys got it, if you don't get the ball you don't win, and I think we did a better job of defensive transition in the second half of the game.
FIBA
Paulo Kennedy
