By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Six preparation games were played in European soil today and the trio of Lithuania, Ukraine and Serbia are the big winners. Also Slovenia, Turkey and Australia got the win and proved in hard tests that they are on the right track.
At Kaunas, Lithuania got an almost 20 points win over Greece (86-67) with Donatas Matiejunas scoring 18 points, as the hosts took advantage of two important absences, Nick Calathes and Giannis Bourousis, from the Greek side. In the same city, the duo of Zoran and Goran Dragic combined for 31 points, 10 assists and 5 steals in the 80-76 win over feisty New Zealand.
At Antibes, Ukraine led by Pooh Jeter (23 p.) beat European champions France (63-56). The hosts are also worried by the hand injury of their starting guard Nando DeColo and the possibility of replacing him in the final roster is more than possible. In the same tournament Australia demolished Philippines (97-75) thanks to a team effort against the double double of Andrey Blatche (20 p., 10 r.).
At Belgrade, Nenad Krstic returned to action and Serbia beat Argentina (85-67) with Miroslav Radulijca being the top scorer with 15 points. In the first game of the day, Turkey prevailed by 11 points (77-66) over Puerto Rico with Cenck Akyol scoring 17 points.