By Menelaos Sevastiadis
The highlight for the second day of FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament was the premier of Lithuania (1-0). And “Lietuva”, one of the main favorites for a ticket to London, proved against host nation Venezuela (1-1) that they can do the job.
The final score was a 100-82 win for Lithuania and there was also a little bad blood on both sides with Lithuanian coach Kestutis Kemzura taking a time out 4 seconds before the end. That’s why his counterpart Eric Musselman denied to shake his hand after the game. Toronto Raptors forward Linas Kleiza scored 28 points for the winners and Greivis Vasquez of New Orleans Hornets tried his best for the loosing side with 24 points and 7 assist. However it was veteran guard Sarunas Jasikevicius (11 p., 7 as.) who stole the show in a 13-2 run at the end of first half.
FYROM (1-1) beat New Zealand (0-1) 84-62 with Bo McCalebb (23 p., 11 as.) and Pero Antic (17 p., 10 r.) leading the way. The Tall Blacks must now defeat Angola (1-0) by 13 points or more in the last game of Group D in order to gain a spot in the quarterfinals. Dominican Republic (1-0) got the win against Korea (0-2) by 10 points (95-85) and the game against Russia (1-0) will decide who gets first place in Group C. Finally in Group A Puerto Rico (1-0) destroyed Jordan (0-2) 93-52 with Peter John Ramos having a field day in the paint (20 p., 9 r.). The game of Puerto Rico against Greece (1-0) will decide who get first place.