OQTM – Green army makes their mark, Korea fall short on Day 2

CARACAS (FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament) - Lithuania entered the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament on Day 2 with a hard-fought and emotional 100-82 win over hosts Venezuela.

The Europeans jumped to a 14-4 lead early in the game behind the sweet shooting of Linas Kleiza (28 points), but the Venezuelans responded like a tidal wave, riding their crowd to a 24-23 lead on the first play of the second quarter.

An arm-wrestle ensued until Sarunas Jasikevicius (11 points, 7 assists) sparked a 13-2 Lithuania run to finish the first half.

Try as Greivis Vasquez (24 points, 7 assists) might, he couldn’t overcome that margin as Lithuania answered repeated challenges to put one foot in the Quarter-Finals.

Venezuela now likely requires Lithuania to defeat Nigeria in the final Group B game to qualify for the knockout stage.

After their huge loss against Russia few gave Korea any chance of troubling the Dominican Republic without star point guard Donggeun Yang.

But reserve Taesul Kim (13 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists) ran the show superbly and the Koreans led by seven points midway through the third quarter.

Korean centre Seung Jun Lee (21 points, 6 rebounds) picked up his fourth foul shortly after, however, and the already dominant Dominican Republic big men took over the game.

Al Horford (30 points, 12 rebounds) and Jack-Michael Martinez (16 point, 25 rebounds) were outstanding as their country won the rebound count 58-28 and secured a 95-85 Group C victory that ends Korea’s campaign.

In the other games, a 12-1 burst over the first five minutes gave the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia control over New Zealand and they never let up on route to an 84-62 win.

While the Tall Blacks closed to eight points early in the last quarter and got good service from centre Alex Pledger (11 points, 11 rebounds), the efforts of Bo McCalebb (23 points, 11 assists) and Pero Antic (17 points, 10 rebounds) proved too much.

New Zealand must now defeat Angola by 14 points or more to stay alive in their quest for a spot at the London Olympics.

Puerto Rico ensured passage to the Quarter-Finals with an easy 93-52 win over Jordan.

Peter John Ramos (20 points, 9 rebounds) led five players in double figures for the Americans, while Sam Daghles (17 points, 7 rebounds) played a lone hand for Jordan.

Puerto Rico plays Greece on Day 3 to decide first place in Group A.

FIBA