A large contingent of Lithuania fans stood and chanted constantly for all 40 minutes, decked out head-to-toe in green, red and yellow as their national men’s basketball team defeated Nigeria 89-80 Tuesday night to improve to 2-0 at the Rio Olympic Games.
Domantas Sabonis, who was born in Portland, had 8 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals for Lithuania. The 20-year-old Sabonis was drafted with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft and will be a rookie with the Oklahoma City Thunder this season.
Lithuania had to rally for the victory as Nigeria surprisingly led 41-36 at halftime behind a barrage of 3-pointers. The Nigerians hit 6 of 9 shots from long range in the second quarter.
That was much different from Sunday’s game when Lithuania sprinted out to a 30-point lead against Brazil and held on to win 82-76.
Jonas Maciulis jump-started the comeback with eight points during a 12-0 third-quarter run that gave Lithuania a 59-49 lead. The Lithuanians never trailed again. Maciulis finished with 21 points while Mantas Kalnietis also scored 21 and had 12 assists.
Former Portland Trail Blazer Ike Diogu scored a team-high 19 points for Nigeria for Nigeria (0-2). Alade Aminu, the brother of current Blazers forward Al-Farouq Aminu, added 12 points.
Chamberlain Oguchi, who played for the Oregon Ducks from 2004-07, had 5 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists for Nigeria.
Lithuania plays its next Group B game against Argentina on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. PDT, while Nigeria faces Spain Thursday at 3 p.m. PDT.
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