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Lithuania clinched the Stankovic Continental Champions Cup by cruising to a 77-73 win over African champions Angola in their last match of the competition Sunday at the Beijing Capital Gymnasium. (AP)
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Lithuania clinched the Stankovic Continental Champions Cup by cruising to a 77-73 win over African champions Angola in their last match of the competition Sunday at the Beijing Capital Gymnasium.
Pocketing a US$100,000 prize cheque, European champions Lithuania won four games over Angola, China, Argentina and Puerto Rico, only losing one match, against Australia, during the six-day tournament.
Arch-rivals Argentina, also with four wins, had to settle for second place because of their loss to Lithuania.
Australia brushed aside China 71-58 Sunday, to claim third place, leaving the Chinese hosts in fourth followed by Angola and Puerto Rico.
"This is a great victory for us," said Valdemaras Chomicius, head coach of Lithuania. "It is obviously an exciting experience to win a high-level tournament here in China."
"I am so proud of my players as they won the game with the best defence I've seen," said Chomicius. "The team played hard and focused, when we do that, we are tough to beat."
Four Lithuanian players scored in double figures. Forward Martynas Andriukaitits, the Most Valuable Player of the event, poured in a game-high 22 points and seven rebounds, Povilas Cukinas added 16.
Later Sunday, the host team China failed to finish on a high as they suffered their second consecutive loss following a 86-66routto Argentina on Saturday.
China lacked the energy and intensity they displayed in the first three matches, shooting just 28.6 per cent from the field.
"We made a full defence arrangement before the game," said head coach Jonas Kazlauskas. "I really cannot say we played good defence as we didn't keep tight throughout all four quarters."
Yi Jianlian, playing due to the absence of NBA All-Star centre Yao Ming, was frozen out by opponents as he scored just one from seven shooting attempts to finish with 11 points and three rebounds. Forward Mo Ke led the game with 14 points and team captain Li Nan had 12.
It was a surprisingly quiet game for China's forward Zhu Fangyu, who scored just five points, netting just one-of-nine three-point shots in 35 minutes. The sharp shooter had 25 points in the match against Puerto Rico last Friday.
"Without Yao, we lost control under the basket," said Kazlauskas. "Our outside players could not find any chance as the paint was badly pushed."
After a sub-par performance in the first three quarters, and trailing by as much as 14 points, China bounced back behind Li, who skipped the first three matches due to an arm injury. He claimed nine of his 12 points by firing three consecutive three-pointers to cut the deficit to five.
But his efforts proved too little as the sizzling Australians soon established another double-digit lead before the final buzzer.
In another match, Argentina defeated Puerto Rico 86-79, condemning the Puerto Rican's to a long journey home nursing a winless record.
(Agencies)
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Updated: 2005-08-01 10:00
