GB Fall Just Short of Upset vs Lithuania

By Sam Neter on June 24, 2012

Great Britain came up just short of an upset vs Lithuania on Saturday night, losing 63-61 in Houston.

Tomas Delininkaitis converted on a drive to the hoop with 2.6 seconds left to give Lithuania the win as Dan Clark’s half court heave came up short.

Head coach Chris Finch wants to see the team improve at closing out games:

“I thought we played well, we outplayed them with exception of a couple of minutes at the beginning and a few minutes down the stretch where they made the big plays and we didn’t.

“Right now, we just are not making winning plays at the end of the games. Making lay-ups, making free throws, making shots, getting stops and getting rebounds, we’ve got to find a way to do that because with the Olympics coming up we will be involved in a lot of tight games.”

Kyle Johnson led GB with 12 points, Dan Clark aded 11, Joel Freeland finished with 10 whilst Robert Archibald and Ogo Adegboye had 8 each.

Paulius Jankunas led Lithuania with 13 points on 5/5 shooting, whilst Toronto Raptors draft pick Jonas Valanciunas finished with 12 points and 8 rebounds.

GB are now 0-2 so far in their warm-up games, losing to Nigeria on Thursday, whilst Lithuania registered their first win of the summer (in three attempts) as they prepare for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament which starts in Venezuela in 8 days.

Box score (courtesy of British Basketball).

Source/Image Credit: LithuaniaBasket.com

Notes

GB starters: Andrew Lawrence, Kyle Johnson, Andrew Sullivan, Joel Freeland, and Robert Archibald.
Head coach Chris Finch once again rotated regularly, with 8 of the 11 players on the roster seeing approximately 20+ minutes.
Devon van Oostrum returned having sprained his ankle earlier in the week.
Mike Lenzly, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Luol Deng, Myles Hesson and Nate Reinking all sat out. Ben Gordon is yet to arrive at camp.
Check out two photo galleries of game, here at LithuaniaBasketball.com, and here on Facebook.

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