By Rigas Dardalis/ dardalis@eurohoops.net
After Croatia’s qualification to the semifinal, Lithuania didn’t want to miss their date. The two teams clashed back in the semifinal of Eurobasket 1995, Croatia returned for the first time since then to the top four of the competition and Lietuva beat Italy 81-77 in order to get there.
The winners took control of the game in the first five minutes of the final quarter, when they held Italy without a point and they had a 15-0 run (72-58). Mantas Kalnietis with 17 points, seven rebounds, five assists and 8/12 shots from the field was the hero of the night, but also Ronny Seibutis added 17 points and Jonas Maciulis had 13. Marco Belinelli did his best in order to save Italy with 22 points but they were not enough. Italy will face Ukraine and the winner of their game will take the ticket to FIBA world cup.