Lithuania came into Tuesday’s game versus Australia undefeated and looked to stay that way. However, the Aussies were not fazed as they beat Lithuania 82-75 and withstood a big third quarter from Lithuania.

Australia started the game off strong, led by Joe Ingles, who has been drawing plenty of NBA interest. Ingles came out scorching hot in the first quarter, hitting all four of his shots and tallying 9 points and 3 assists. NBA champion Aron Baynes helped out Ingles a lot in the quarter, scoring 10 points on 4 of 5 shooting. Australia jumped onto a 10-point lead heading into the second quarter.

In the second period, Australia held Lithuania to only 8 points. Australia scored 17 points of its own to take a 19-point lead into the locker rooms. Lithuania shot a miserable 30 percent in the quarter.

Though, the third quarter was the complete opposite. Lithuania scored 28 points in this quarter. They were aggressively attacking Australia’s defense and were getting to the line. They shot 12 costless throws in the period and connected on 11 of them. Just like that, it was a close game advancing to the fourth and final period.

Right off the back, in the fourth, Jonas Maciulis knocked down a three-pointer to cut Australia’s lead down to three. Unfortunately for the Lithuanians, that was the closest they would come, as the rest of the quarter, both teams exchanged buckets for the most part, resulting into a 7-point defeat for Lithuania.

Joe Ingles scored a team-high 18 points, while Aron Baynes put in 14. Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Matthew Dellavedova added 13. Dante Exum had yet another quite game, scoring zero points in four minutes of play.

For the Lithuanians, Renaldas Seibutis pushed in 21 points. Ksistof Lavrinovic contributed with 14. Toronto Raptors big man Jonas Valanciunas was passive on the offensive end, only attempting 3 shots, good for four points.

Most of the team stats were identical. Where the Aussies won this game was from three-point territory. They shot 50 percent compared to Lithuania’s 31.2 percent. However, Lithuania was very efficient from the charity stripe, shooting 90 percent. Lithuania also received more bench production.

The game was sloppy on both ends as both teams combined for 36 turnovers. Also, there were 44 total fouls committed by both teams. Australia never trailed in the game. This was another impressive victory for them. They are now 2 and 1 in the tournament, which is the same record as the Lithuanians.

Australia will take on Mexico on Wednesday, September 3rd at 7:30 am Eastern Time.

Meanwhile, Lithuania will look to redeem itself against a winless Korea team on the same day at 2 pm Eastern Time. 

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About the author
Vahan Shakhpazyan
Vahan Shakhpazyan loves the NBA with a passion and has been an avid follower for 18 years. He is a UCR graduate with a BA degree in Creative Writing. The man behind the Facebook page NBA updates.