Lithuania Surging in Huawei Cup

Lithuania continues its excellent play as it prepares for Eurobasket 2015. So far, they have been dominant in the Huawei Cup in Kaunas and have yet to face defeat. Despite being without big man Jonas Valanciunas, the Lithuanian squad was still able to put away Turkey with an 86-74 win.

Turkey could not find the right answers to quell Lithuania’s attack. This was an easy win for the hosts, after surging ahead in the first frame with a 10-0 run. They managed to maintain a double digit lead at the end of the first half, 48-36.

Paulius Jankunas paced Lietuva with 14 points and five rebounds. Turkey’s Semih Erden put up another solid game and delivered 11 points and five rebounds in a losing effort.

Among all of the current ongoing and recently concluded friendly tournaments, Lithuania has been eye-opening as far as their potential. While Eurobasket 2015 is still a few weeks away, they are one of the teams that needs to be watched out for as they are tuned up and ready for action. They are in Group D along with Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine, Belgium, and the Czech Republic. Lithuania is favored to advance from the group stage after an expected strong showing in the early rounds.