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The Lithuanian team started the game very nervous: during the first half they lost five triples, made a mistake five times and scored only 11 points.
In the second half, the Lithuanians no longer had problems in attack and scored 25 points, but still could not defeat the rivals: they always found their answers to any attempt to break free.
Still, the Lithuanians finished the fourth with eight unanswered points and after the break, for the first time, a double-digit lead was created.
PHOTO GALLERY. Olympic qualifying tournament: Lithuania – Venezuela
After two inaccurate 3-pointers in a row, Marius Grigonis finally hit a long throw, soon received a non-sports foul and the Lithuanian team gained a record lead at the end of the half – 55:44.
In the fourth quarter, the Lithuanians controlled the field with confidence: they failed to make shots from well-created situations for a long time, but 3-pointers from Rokas Giedraitis and Mantas Kalnietis allowed for a safe escape 69:53.
Jonas Valančiūnas, who reigned under the baskets, scored 20 points (double 8/9, penalty 4/4), bounced 11 balls and scored 30 utility points.
The NBA’s next rookie, Domantas Sabonis, added 12 points and 8 rebounds. He and J. Valančiūnas played together briefly in the second half.
Lithuania scored only 7/24 3-pointers (29%) in this match and committed 15 errors.
Lithuania: J. Valančiūnas 20 (11th ed.), D. Sabonis and M. Kalnietis 12 each, R. Giedraitis 10, M. Grigonis 8, R. Jokubaitis 7, L. Lekavičius 4, E. Bendžius 3, A. Butkevičius, T. Dimša and M. Kuzminskas after 0.
Venezuela: D. Cubillanas 11, M. Carrera 9.
Lithuania will play the next game on July 1. with South Korea, start of the match – 7.30pm.
A total of six teams divided into two groups compete in the selection tournament in Kaunas. After each, their best two teams will advance to the semi-finals. Only the winner of the tournament will win a ticket to the Tokyo Games.
TV3 TV, the news portal tv3.lt, the online video platform TV3 Play and the next generation TV Go3 will broadcast all the Olympic basketball matches of the Olympic team, not just those in which the Lithuanians will appear.
Both during and after the game, the latest news, interviews with basketball players, their comments and analysis of the game will be on the special portal of the news portal tv3.lt – https://www.tv3.lt/tokyo2020.
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