LTU - Maciulis in hunt for spot on Olympic team

VILNIUS (FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament) - Jonas Maciulis had to miss EuroBasket 2011 because of the serious knee injury he suffered while playing for Olimpia Milano just months before the start of the tournament, but national team coach Kestutis Kemzura is giving him a chance to return to the side for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Caracas.

The 27-year-old small forward, who is trying to get himself back into game shape with Baltai in Lithuania, is in the 23-man preliminary squad named on Tuesday by Kemzura, along with Florida State sharpshooter Deividas Dulkys, the guard in American college basketball that helped the Seminoles win their first ACC Tournament back in March.

Dulkys averaged just under eight points per game but made headlines in Lithuania on 14 January when he made eight of 10 shots from the arc and scored 32 points in a blowout of powerhouse North Carolina.

Sarunas Jasikevicius is named in the preliminary squad but Kemzura doesn’t know if the veteran will make himself available.

Rimantas Kaukenas is also included, though he has yet to fully recover from a knee injury.

Among the others named are Jonas Valanciunas of Lietuvos Rytas, who was named to the All-Eurocup First Team, and Donatas Motiejunas of Asseco Prokom Gdynia.

Valanciunas was the MVP of last year’s FIBA U19 World Championship in Riga and then made the country’s EuroBasket squad while Motiejunas did not survive the last cut.

There is a big squad, and Kemzura knows that he may have to call on some inexperienced players as he did in 2010 when so many players were unavailable.

“I wanted to let all these players know that they can be of use to the national team and they can end up being invited, but we just don’t have enough time to test them all before the Olympic Qualifying Tournament,” said Kemzura.

Bronze-medal winners in Turkey two years ago that were not in last year’s team but have been included are Martynas Gecevicius, Renaldas Seibutis, Tadas Klimavicius, Linas Kleiza and Maciulis.

Lithuania have played in every Olympics since 1992 and, to keep that string alive, they must take one of three spots on offer for the London Games when the OQT is held in Caracas, Venezuela.

Kemzura’s squad will take on Nigeria and Venezuela in Group B and face a potential Quarter-Final against Greece, Jordan or Puerto Rico.

The sides that win the Semi-Finals will book places for London, while the winner of the game between the losing semi-finalists will claim the third and final spot for the Olympics.

Lithuania Preliminary squad: Mantas Kalnietis, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Rolandas Alijevas, Adas Juskevicius, Zygimantas Janavicius, Martynas Gecevicius, Rimantas Kaukenas, Renaldas Seibutis, Martynas Pocius, Deividas Dulkys, Simas Jasaitis, Jonas Maciulis, Linas Kleiza, Mindaugas Kuzminskas, Paulius Jankunas, Mindaugas Katelynas, Darius Songaila, Tadas Klimavicius, Donatas Motiejunas, Ksistof Lavrinovic, Robertas Javtokas, Jonas Valanciunas and Antanas Kavaliauskas.

FIBA