LTU - Jankunas, Lithuanians keep battling

KAUNAS (Euroleague/Olympic Qualifying Tournament) - It hasn't been a great season so far for Zalgiris Kaunas, yet the Lithuanian giants are still fighting and remain firmly in the hunt for a spot in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Top 16 after an 82-68 win at Brose Baskets Bamberg on Thursday night.

Several players that figure to be with Lithuania in next year’s FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Caracas, Venezuela, had important roles.

Paulius Jankunas had one of his best performances of the season, scoring 10 points and grabbing 14 rebounds.

Guards Mantas Kalnietis and Tomas Delininkaitis, and big men Tadas Klimavicius and Robertas Javtokas all had solid contributions against Bamberg.

Kalnietis had 14 points and five assists and Delininkaitis scored 12.

Klimavicius, who played on the bronze-medal winning 2010 FIBA World Championship team but wasn’t in Lithuania’s EuroBasket 2011 squad, had five points, four assists and two rebounds and veteran center Javtokas had 10 boards to go with his seven points.

Zalgiris lost five of their first six games in the Euroleague but a 67-65 home win over Unicaja Malaga on November 30 breathed some life into their campaign.

A victory next week against last-place KK Zagreb  in Kaunas would put Zalgiris into the next phase of the competition.

FIBA