Sabonis guides Lithuania to home victory over Montenegro

KAUNAS (Lithuania) - Lithuania used a big third quarter to pull away from Montenegro for a 90-73 victory in Group K of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Qualifiers to inch closer to securing a spot in next summer's spectacle.

Marius Grigonis paced five Lithuanians in double figures with 16 points while Mindaugas Kuzminkas and Domantas Sabonis both had 15 points, Jonas Valanciunas collected 12 points and 14 rebounds and Rokas Jokubaitis dished out 10 assists.

Kendrick Perry's 21 points were not enough for Montenegro, who did cut a 20-point deficit to 10 points midway through the fourth quarter.

Turning point: Montenegro held tight the entire first half but Lithuania eventually took over the game in the third quarter. Leading just 41-40, Arnas Butkevicius stepped up with a dunk, three-point play and three-pointer as Lithuania threw together a 13-2 run to surge ahead 54-42. The cushion grew as large as 20 points in the third quarter.

Game hero: Sabonis was big all game as expected as the NBA big man collected 15 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists in showcasing his all-around game .

Stats don't lie: Lithuania were a force inside, shooting 59.5 percent on two-pointers while also holding Montenegro to 43.9 percent from the floor. The hosts also won the rebound battle 45-29 including grabbing 17 offensive rebounds, which resulted in an 18-6 advantage in second chance points.

 
Bottom line:  Lithuania are just inches from booking a ticket to the World Cup but will have to wait until the next window in November 2022 for a chance to finish the deal. Kazys Maksvytis' men are now 7-1 in Group K while Montenegro still have solid chances of reaching the FIBA World Cup with a 5-3 record.

They said: "It's good that we had a W. We lacked the consistency, and we can do better. Sometimes we just stop. That's something we need to improve on." - Marius Grigonis, Lithuania

"The result is good. Our crowd was amazing. With this victory we go to FIBA EuroBasket and it's good for our belief in ourselves. But we have a lot of things we need to do better. We need to do better if we want to fight in the Group of Death. It's good that we played a pretty good game - maybe the best in the whole preparations. But we still have to correct some things." - Rokas Jokubaitis, Lithuania

"We played a good first half. The second half was a little slow for us. I think them getting out and running and killing us on the offensive glass made the difference. I don’t think we should have anything to hold our heads down today." - Kendrick Perry, Montenegro

 
FIBA