Lithuania thwarts Doncic, Slovenia

MANILA, Philippines -- Lithuania is sure of being the fifth or sixth best team in this year's FIBA World Cup after besting Slovenia, 100-84, Thursday night at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

The balanced attack of Lithuania was just too much for the Luka Doncic-led Slovenia, as four Lithuanians finished in double digits.

After being down by as much as 15 points, crowd-favorite Doncic towed Slovenia to within two, 57-55, with 6:40 remaining in the third quarter.

But Lithuania outscored Slovenia, 43-29 for the rest of the game, as the Slovenians just ran out of gas.

The Lithuanians eventually led by as much as 23 points.

Jonas Valanciunas scored 24 points and grabbed 12 boards for Lithuania.He was followed by Ignas Brazdeikis with 15 markers.

For another game, Slovenia was led by Doncic who scored 29 points.

Lithuania's defense and depth were keys in the game, as they forced Slovenia to commit 14 turnovers. They were able to score 21 points from these turnovers.

Their bench was also able to score 40 points compared to Slovenia’s 13.

"[Lithuania] made some adjustments, they had some time to do it. We couldn't make any adjustments, we just had to go straight from the game, without practice," Slovenia head coach Aleksander Sekulic told reporters after the game. 

"Basically, all we did was video preparation for the game so it was tough," he added. 

Lithuania, which was defeated by Serbia in the quarterfinals, will be facing Latvia in the classification game.

Slovenia, meanwhile, will face Italy to determine the seventh and eighth spots of the tournament. 

Both games will be on Saturday.