Lithuania Falls to Serbia at Euro Championships
Jul 18 | Men's Basketball
BILBAO, SPAIN (July 18, 2011) - The Lithuania U20 National Team dropped its third straight contest at the 2011 FIBA European Championships on Monday with a 95-64 loss to Serbia in the classification round. Rutgers rising sophomore forward Gilvydas Biruta (Jonava, Lithuania) had eight points and seven rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench, while shooting 50 percent (3-6) from the field.
After a tightly contested opening quarter, Serbia out-scored Lithuania 23-10 in the second stanza and never looked back. Helped by a 47-34 rebounding advantage, Serbia shot 44.1 percent (15-34) from behind the arc, while Lithuania struggled with a 21.1 percentage (4-19) from three point range.
Lithuania entered the European Championships on the heels of a victory over the United States U19 National Team and a 3-0 record to win the Torneo Internacional de Barakaldo, which included U20 wins over Italy, Montenegro and Spain, all of which advanced to the qualifying round of the Euro Championships. After defeating eventual Group D first place finisher Italy once again in its Championship opener, Lithuania has dropped a trio of games by double digits.
Lithuania returns to the hardwood on Tuesday to meet Croatia, who suffered a 64-61 loss to Austria on Monday.
For additional information on the Championships visit http://u20men.fibaeurope.com/en/default.asp.
