The sixteen-year-olds crushed their opponents by a margin of 49 points at the start of the playoffs
The European 16-year-old Championship continues in North Macedonia, where the Lithuanian national team also successfully started the playoffs.
Tom Purli’s students eliminated their peers from Denmark in the round of 16 – 97:48 (23:16, 23:12, 26:8, 25:12).
Both national teams started the match by exchanging effective attacks, and Nojus Indrušaitis gave the first lead to the Lithuanians – 9:7. After stopping the opponent’s attack, it was possible to pull away 17:7. At the end of the half, the Danes got closer, but N. Indrušaitis closed the first section with a long shot – 23:16.
They started the second quarter with an 8-0 run, and after Dovydas Buika’s three-pointer, they could feel very comfortable on the court – 36:20. Soon, Roko Kreišmont’s long throw doubled the Lithuanian lead – 41:20. By the time of the long break, the opponents could not recover significantly – 28:46.
The third quarter already completely belongs to the Lithuanians – Kristupas Smirnova’s three-pointer allowed the difference to cross the 30-point mark (64:34) and T.Purl’s students were not going to stop there. D. Buika brought the lead closer to 40 points, and Will Moller only slightly softened the distance with the last throw – 36:72.
The last 10 minutes did not change the outcome of the match.
The Lithuanians won the battle under the baskets 50:32, provoked as many as 32 mistakes by the opponents and forced them to shoot three-pointers with only 19 percent accuracy (4/21).
D. Buika had his most solid match – 21 minutes, 21 points (6/7 two-pointers, 3/5 three-pointers), 6 rebounds and interceptions each, 3 assists, an error, a foul and 32 utility points.
In the quarterfinals, Lithuanians will face the Turkish national team, which eliminated the host of the tournament, North Macedonia, at the start of the playoffs.
Lithuania: Dovydas Buika 21 (3/5 three-pointers, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 32 points), Nojus Indrušaitis 17 (1/7 two-pointers, 5 rebounds), Kevin Šacs (5 rebounds) Why.). for the team), Kristupas Smirnovas (7 rebounds for the team) and Mantas Laurenčikas (5/5 double-pointers) 10 each, Nedas Raupelis (6 rebounds for the team) and Matas Buteliauskas 7 each, Paulius Narvilas 6 (5 rebounds for the team) , Steponas Žilakauskis 4 (5 goals per game), Rokas Kreišmontas 3 (1/6 three-pointers), Kasparas Jakučionis 2, Mantas Juzēnas did not play.
Denmark: Frederik Erichsen 14, Willas Moller 9 (5 rebounds), Stevan Novichičius 7 (5 rebounds, 5 errors).