COLOGNE (Germany) - Reigning champs Slovenia opened the defense of their title by fighting past Lithuania  92-85 in a tight and tough showdown of titans in Group B of the FIBA EuroBasket 2022.

Slovenia shrugged off the strong support from the Lithuanian fans - making up a large portion of the 14,465 spectators - with five players scoring in double figures.

 
Turning point: The game was tight throughout and Lithuania were leading 78-73 with just more than 5 minutes left when Slovenia mounted a 15-3 run to surge ahead 88-81 . 

TCL Player of the Game: Luka Doncic had a slow game for his standards but still finished the night with a double-double of 14 points and 10 assists, while adding 6 rebounds and 3 steals to the mix. 

Stats Don't Lie: Slovenia committed three fewer turnovers and connected on 36 percent from three-point range while hitting 63 percent on two-pointers. Slovenia also took advantage of Lithuania's poor transition defense with 25 points off turnovers.

Bottom Line: Slovenia will go into the day off on Friday knowing they have a chance to improve to 2-0 in the group with their next game on Saturday against Hungary, who lost their first game. Lithuania on the other hand have a day to regroup and prepare for their next game against France.

They Said: "We knew it was going to be a hard game. They have great players in Jonas (Valanciunas) and (Domantas) Sabonis. We tried to limit them. Unfortunately we paid the price and they got some threes. Their role players played an amazing game. But we just played better. We had the lead, lost it. The resiliency that we have showed what the Slovenian national team is all about." - Vlatko Cancar, Slovenia

"Basketball is a game of runs. We just tried to get some stops. We were scoring but we just couldn’t get the stops. Once we got the stops we were okay." -Mike Tobey, Slovenia

"First game, a lot of stress and we made a lot of mistakes - more turnovers (16) than assists (14). more smistkeas than assists. They had 25 points off turnovers. That is a huge number. We need to be much better in transition defense, but it’s just the first game and we will be better." - Lithuania coach Kazys Maksvytis

"We made too many mistakes today. We were playing like fifth graders. It’s just the first day of the championship. We have a day off tomorrow and I hope that we can fix our mistakes." - Mindaugas Kuzminskas, Lithuania

"We committed too many turnovers and also missed too many shots that we would usually make because those led to transition points for them." - Domantas Sabonis, Lithuania

 
FIBA