By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
MANILA, Philippines – Lithuania had an extra day of rest, Slovenia had to bounce back just hours after losing to Canada in the quarterfinals and you can guess the final result.
Lithuania got an easy 100-84 win, starting the game by leading 33-21 in the first quarter and never looking back after that.
Luka Doncic played and scored 29 points, he managed to make it a two-point game (57-55) with two free throws midway through the third quarter, but that proved to be Slovenia’s highlight.
“We don’t want a special treatment. Luka does not want special treatment. And I don’t think he has a special treatment,” mentioned Aleksander Sekulic in the postgame press conference referring to the leading star of Slovenia in the aftermath of the reactions against referees following the Quarterfinal loss to Canada, “Ask him if he has a special treatment.”
Jonas Valanciuas with 24 points and 12 rebounds dominated the paint and there was no answer for him.
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Mindaugas Kuzminskas and Deividas Sirvydis added 14 points each for the winning side, while Ignas Brazdeikis scored 15.
Lithuania led even by 23 points (92-69) with Slovenia trailing by 12 at the end of the third period (75-63) after a missed step-back three by Doncic.
“I think it’s a well-deserved win for Lithuania, they played really well throughout the whole game. We tried to match their quality, but we couldn’t maintain that level. They hit open shots, almost all of them”, summed up Aleksej Nikolic after his 14-point effort for the losing side.
“I think they had an amazing tournament, they were dominating the first stage. They had one bad game against Serbia which put them in the spot. We knew they had a great team, but I think tonight it wasn’t a fair fight. We couldn’t match their energy, they had one day off. They did exactly what they wanted to do,” added head coach Sekulic admitting his team was tired.
After this result, Lithuania will face Latvia in the game in which the 5th spot in the final FIBA World Cup standings will be awarded, while Slovenia will play against Italy for the 7th. Both games will be held on Saturday.
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL