By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After losing the bronze medal game to Lithuania in the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games, Australia finally got revenge. The Boomers are in the semifinal by beating “Lietuva” 90-64.
Patty Mills with 24 points was a real leader for the Aussies and Matthew Dellavedova added 15 points, while Aron Baynes had 16 points in the paint. On the other side, Mantas Kanlietis and Antanas Kavaliauskas scored 12 points each for Lithuania.
Mills and Dellavedova set the tone early with the San Antonio Spurs guard scoring 16 points in the first half. Delly made a buzzer beating three at the end of the first quarter (26-17) and the next ten minutes were a disaster for Lithuania. Australia led even by 22 points (46-22) and had a 18 points half time lead (48-30) without facing any real competition.
The Boomers went to the locker rooms having made 8 out 16 threes, while Lithuania, a team which traditional has good shooters, made just one made three in six attemps and also committed 13 turnovers. The team of coach Kazlauskas tried to react in the second half, Jonas Maciulis with two threes led the charge and Lithuania cut the lead to 14 points (52-38). They couldn’t do much after that.
Maciulis got four fouls and went to the bench, Australia didn’t back down and the third period ended with a 70-43 advantage. There was no turning back after that and the Boomers are waiting their semifinal opponent from the game between Serbia and Croatia.
