Lithuania Stays in Medal Chase

Less than 48 hours after becoming the first team ever to throw a scare into a U.S. men’s Olympic team with NBA players, Lithuania got back to the business of chasing a third consecutive medal.

There was no emotional letdown over what might have been. In fact, Lithuania came out and took control in the opening 10 minutes today and defeated China, 82-66, at Sydney.

“We understand which games we must win and this was a must-win game for us,” guard Sarunas Jasikevicius said. “No matter how good you play against [the] States, you really need to beat teams like China if you want to get a good position [in the quarterfinals].

“I don’t think there was a letdown. If anything, I think we were really ready to play.”

On Thursday, Lithuania became the first team to lead in the second half over a U.S. Olympic team since the NBA players started competing in 1992.

Australia 86, Angola 75--Only 3-14 in Olympic history and winless in its first three games here, Angola gave Australia some worries, mate.

The Angolans led by two points at halftime and by as many as four, 59-55, seven minutes into the second half.

David Bartolomeu Dias led Angola with 18 points, and Andrew Gaze had 18 for Australia.

Yugoslavia 78, Spain 65--Predrag Danilovic scored 13 of his 14 points in the second half as Yugoslavia (4-0) pulled away to remain unbeaten in pool play.

Danilovic, who played for the Miami Heat, missed all four of his shots in the opening 20 minutes as Spain (1-3) stayed within two points at halftime of the emotional, physical game.

Russia 77, Canada 59--Russia (2-2) put itself in good position to advance to the quarterfinals by handing Canada (3-1) its first loss of the tournament with some outstanding defense.

Andrei Fetisov had 15 points to lead Russia, which faces winless Angola in its final pool game.

WOMEN

France 73, Brazil 70--France’s Olympic debut in women’s basketball remained perfect with an overtime win, easily the most impressive of its four victories.

France’s final preliminary round game is against Australia (4-0). Even if France loses that game, it will finish second in the six-team pool and head to the quarterfinals.

Australia 96, Senegal 39--The host country took a 19-1 lead, holding winless Senegal without a field goal for the opening 7:47. Carla Boyd had 15 points to lead Australia, which led at halftime, 55-18.

Poland 72, Cuba 65--Center Margo Dydek, despite playing the final 24:13 with four fouls, had 32 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots as Poland (3-1) clinched a quarterfinal berth in its first Olympic appearance.