NANJING, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- After being narrowly defeated by France the other day, Lithuania vented their rage on Dominican Republic and prevailed 74-55 to conclude their FIBA Basketball World Cup journey on Monday.
Jonas Valanciunas of Lithuania scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. His teammate Lukas Lekavicius also contributed 19 points, shooting 8 of 8. Rigoberto Mendoza of Dominican Republic tallied 14 points.
Lithuania could not make it to the quarterfinals after they bitterly lost to France on Saturday, where in the final seconds the referees missed a weighty goaltending call.
They played with anger and made a ruthless 13-4 start led by center Valanciunas, who contributed 11 points and seven rebounds in the first half.
Lithuania continued to mount pressure by attacking the rim in the second quarter. Dominican Republic seemed a little panicked, only answering with missed three-pointers and trailed 24-38 at halftime.
Lithuania shot zero point from the three-point line in the first half and they did not recover in the third quarter. But Lithuania's guard Lekavicius was in immense form, shooting 8 of 8 to help his team maintain a double digit lead in the final minutes.
