Lithuania, Netherlands among latest winners in warm-up games

KEDAINIAI (EuroBasket 2015) - Jonas Valanciunas has caused a stir in his homeland this week by playing for the national team for the first time in 2015 and helping it remain unbeaten in its preparations for the EuroBasket.

The Toronto Raptors center had the fans in Kedainiai, close to Kaunas, on their feet as he patrolled the low post and contributed to an 86-71 win over Austria.

Though just a warm-up game for the big event, which tips off 5 September for the Baltic side in nearby Riga when they launch their Group D campaign, the noise level was high.

So much so that Lithuania coach Jonas Kazlauskas could hardly be heard by his players.

"The support was fantastic," he said, "just as in an official game.

"I even found it difficult to be heard by the young players, whom I was trying to instruct."

We did not always think things through today and we also tried out a few new things on defense, which I cannot say worked. - Kazlauskas

While Mantas Kalnietis, Paulius Jankunas and Mindaugas Kuzminskas rested, Valanciunas dusted off the cobwebs and finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds in 19 minutes of action.

Arturas Milaknis got fans excited by pouring in 18 points on six-of-eight shooting from long range.

Young small forward Rokas Giedraitis raised eyebrows with 12 points.

The Netherlands are flying high after two straight wins in the preparations.

The Dutch started off their preparations for EuroBasket 2015 losing five straight but won for the first time on Sunday against Iceland.

The Netherlands followed that up with an 81-54 rout of University of Illinois on Wednesday night in Rotterdam.

Roeland Schaftenaar had 18 points and six rebounds for the winners with Yannick Franke adding 13 points and Robin Smeulders 12 points and 6 boards.

Serbia avenged their loss to France in Nancy last week by registering on Wednesday night a 73-63 win over the reigning EuroBasket champions in a second friendly game between the two teams, this time in Belgrade.

Playing in front of 15,000 fans at Kombank Arena, Nemanja Bjelica had 12 points and 6 rebounds, Miroslav Raduljica added 10 points and Nemanja Nedovic chipped in with 9 points and 4 assists.

Serbia saw their starting playmaker Milos Teodosic step on the court for the first time this summer during the final minute of the game but Zoran Erceg, who is also following an individual program because of a minor injury, did not suit up on Wednesday.

"This win means a lot for us, we were motivated to beat France in front of our fans and prove to ourselves that we still have room for improvement every day," Serbia coach Sasha Djordjevic said.

"The most important thing in this game was our attitude, primarily on defense.

Defense is going to be our strongest weapon in the forthcoming EuroBasket. - Djordjevic

"We controlled the game in transition, an aspect we had the most trouble with in the first game, in Nancy.

"We were able to force them into 23 turnovers. I do not know if this is their record."

France released power forward Kim Tillie from the squad before traveling to Belgrade and now have 14 players.

"Kim was exemplary in preparations since the first day, but the competition at his position did not permit him to earn a spot on the final team," France coach Vincent Collet said.

"I appreciate the progress he has made since last year [when Tillie was included in France's FIBA Basketball World Cup squad] and he will remain at the disposal of the national team if necessary."

Turkey defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina, 66-58, at Abdi Ipekci Arena in Istanbul on Wednesday.

Playing in their first friendly after returning from their EuroBasket 2015 training camp in Italy, Bobby Dixon paced Turkey with 10 points and 4 assists while Semih Erden had 9 points and 12 boards.

Cedi Osman also contributed 8 points and 6 rebounds.

"We played a serious game against Bosnia and Herzegovina which is a very athletic team and I'm very happy with the fight and effort we put in," Turkey coach Ergin Ataman said.

Our young players were very active and each day that passes we will get better as a team. - Ataman

Earlier this week, Jan Vesely led the Czech Republic to an 86-71 win over Japan in Brno.

Getting their first win of the summer, the Czechs thrived with Vesely in the lineup.

He had 20 points and 13 rebounds while Lubos Barton contributed 16 points and David Jelinek 13.

On Tuesday, Spain almost blew a 17-point third-quarter lead over Belgium but held on and launched their round of warm-up games for EuroBasket 2015 with a 67-64 win in Gijon.

FIBA