RIGA (2011 FIBA U19 World Championship) - A near perfect first half performance from a Lithuanian team spurred on by nearly 5000 fans has proven enough to see off a strong finishing Russian side and book their place in Sunday's final.
 
Not unlike their quarterfinal against Poland, Lithuania started the game slowly, failing to score in the first three minutes of the game. But once the Lithuanian green machine found its feet their was no stopping it as Rolandas Jakstas - who would claim 11 points in the opening 10 minutes - led his team on a 13-0 scoring run to give them a lead that would be sitting at 14 by the end of the opening quarter.
 
With Jakstas off the court, none of the momentum was lost for Lithuania as Jonas Valanciunas continued to drive his team ahead. Russia simply could find no way to stall the Lithuanian's offensive momentum or lift their own with Valanciunas waiting to pounce every time Russia attempted to drive the lane. At the half he would have almost out rebounded the entire Russian line up, claiming nine to himself compared to Russian's team total of 12.
 
Russia's problems were further exasperated by poor execution with simple handling errors and misdirected passes also sneaking into their game, allowing Lithuania to go into the half in a position of absolute dominance, leading by 27 points.
 
There would however be one blow for the Lithuanians in their otherwise perfect first half with back up point guard Renaldas Simanavicius having to be carried from the court by his team mates after going down with what appeared to be a twisted ankle. He would not return for the remainder of the game.
 
With Valanciunas bringing up his third foul early in the third quarter, Lithuanian coach Kazys Maksvytis was forced to give his center some time on the bench, allowing Russia a chance to make sure the lead would not grow any larger. Putting his hand up for the Russians was Dmitry Kulagin scoring his team's first 14 points of the second half, helping pull Lithuania's lead back to 20 points heading into the final ten minutes.
 
Scoring five quick points in the last quarter, Sergey Karasev offered Russia the faintest sniff with the lead back cut back to 15 points. The Russian momentum would slightly stall however when Tamirlan Bekkiev hit a three pointer, only for the referees to overrule, citing an offensive foul prior to the shot being made.
 
But the Lithuanians were having trouble of their own at the other end, scoring just two points in the entire first minutes of the final quarter as Vladislav Trushkin brought the deficit down to 12 with his first three of the game with just over four minutes to play, hinting at a final quarter performance similar to that which he produced an evening earlier against USA.
 
However, cool heads would prevail for Lithuania as their massive halftime lead would prove too much for Russia - who to their credit fought to the final buzzer - to overcome.

FIBA