LTU/IRI – Inspirational Jasikevicius marshals Lithuania to win over Iran

BEIJING (Olympics) – Sarunas Jasikevicius ignited a decisive second-quarter run for Lithuania as they rolled to a 99-67 triumph over Iran in Group A at the Olympics.

Forty-eight hours after their late win against Argentina, the Lithuanians fell behind by eight points in the first quarter and trailed 20-15 at the end of that frame but Jasikevicius then took over.

A basket in the paint from the 32-year-old point guard sparked an 18-0 onslaught that put the Baltic giants in front for good.

"It's not so easy to play at 9am in the morning,” Jasikevicius said to FIBA.com. “It was good for us to play this game.”

The Lithuania great ultimately scored nine in the rampage that left his team in front at 33-20.

They went to half-time on top at 46-34 with Jasikevicius’ 15 points leading all scorers. The closest Iran would get the rest of the way was 11 early in the third quarter.

Even though Lithuania trailed early, Jasikevicius believed his team was never under serious pressure.

“It's not so easy to control the game from the start  and we did that,” he said.

“Lithuania put a lot of pressure on us, on Hamad (Ehadadi),” Iran coach Rajko Toroman said.

Linas Kleiza, whose three-pointer with 2.1 seconds remaining had beaten Argentina on the first day of the tournament, ended up with a game-high 22 points against Iran and Jasikevicius finished with 20

Iran’s giant center Hamed still scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while teammates Oshin Sahakian had 12 boards to go with his nine points.

"We played well in the first half but like in all of the games we have had, they killed us in turnovers, that is our problem,” Toroman said.

Iran had 12 of their 23 turnovers in the first half.

The Iranians have had a great summer of preparation for the Olympics but they expected to struggle against the best teams in the world.

"Our goal was to get some experience coming here and we are learning,” Toroman said. “If we can win one game, then that would be great."

Lithuania now take on Russia, that team that beat them in the semi-finals of last year’s EuroBasket.

"Our next two games are going to be very crucial and we will see where we are at,” Jasikevicius said.

“Russia are European champions, they are going to be very tough opponents. They have very good players and an excellent coach (David Blatt).”

Iran, who slipped up against Russia in their opener, next face Australia.

FIBA