HUESCA (Spain) - Four of Europe's six teams playing at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024 found out where they stand about two weeks before the event as they faced off in a friendly tournament in Spain - with Lithuania and Spain picking up victories on Thursday.
Playing the first of three straight days of games, Lithuania rallied from 13 points down to fend off France 82-74 in the first game of the day at the Pabellon El Parque venue in Huesca, Spain.
Erikas Sirgedas paced Lithuania with 17 points, Dovydas Buika scored 16 and Arturas Butajevas finished with 12 points - including some big scores in the fourth quarter. Akram Naji had 14 points for France, who managed just 47 points in the last 3 quarters.
France raced out to a 27-14 lead in the first quarter and the gap was 27-18 after 10 minutes. Lithuania charged back and pulled ahead 35-34. The French went into the break up 45-43.
The game went back and forth in the third quarter, which ended with Lithuania ahead 64-60. The gap increased to 68-60 before France trimmed it to 68-66. Butajevas took over inside with six points - including two big dunks for a 76-68 cushion, which proved the back breaker.
The second game was a defensive struggle with Spain coming out on top over Germany 58-50. Guillermo Del Pino was the top scorer for the home side with 13 points; Max-Garcia Plata and Gildas Gimenez both 10 points; and Luka Stojic topped Germany with 8 points.
Spain's defense was strong early and the lead was 14-8 after 10 minutes. The Iberians were up 30-20 but Germany fought back to within 30-29 at half-time.
Four points was the biggest lead in the third quarter, which ended with Spain up 44-41. Spain opened a 52-44 cushion midway through the final frame and Germany could not get closer than 4 points the rest of the way.
The four teams are back in action on Friday with France taking on Germany and Spain squaring off against Lithuania. The latter game is especially of interest since Spain and Lithuania are drawn together in Group A of the tournament, which runs from June 29 to July 7 in Istanbul. France will play in Group B and Germany in Group D.
Saturday's two matchups have Germany playing Lithuania and Spain going up against France.
The other two European teams in this summer's FIBA U17 World Cup are hosts Türkiye and Italy.
The games in Huesca are being broadcast live on the Spanish federation's Twitch channel.
FIBA