Lithuania suffer heavy defeat to Turkey in World Cup qualifiers

Lithuania's men's national basketball team suffered a heavy defeat on Friday in Istanbul during the second round of the FIBA World Cup 2027 qualifying campaign. In the Group J clash, hosts Turkey won convincingly, 94:66, dominating most quarters of the game.

For Lithuania, Osvaldas Olisevičius top-scored with 11 points, Motiejus Ligeika... actually Matas Jogela and Augustas Marčiulionis each added 10 points, while Marekas Blaževičius contributed nine points and 14 rebounds. Turkey were led by Cedi Osman with 22 points and six rebounds, Ercel Yurtseven scored 17 points, and Şehmus Hazer added ten points and six assists.

Other Group J results

In Belgrade, Serbia defeated Iceland 102:73. Nikola Tanasković led the winners with 23 points and five rebounds, Nikola Jović scored 21 points, and Marko Gudurić added 17 points and six assists. Iceland's Elvar Fridriksson top-scored for his team with 19 points.

In Tuzla, hosts Bosnia and Herzegovina edged Italy 78:76 in a tight contest. Jusuf Nurkić led the winners with 25 points and 14 rebounds. For Italy, Simone Fontecchio and Niño Mannion each scored 14 points.

After seven rounds in Group J, Turkey lead with seven wins, Italy and Serbia each have five wins, while Bosnia, Lithuania and Iceland have three wins each. The top three of the six teams in the group will advance to the World Cup final tournament.

It was also reported that on Thursday Latvia's national team lost 80:115 to hosts Croatia in Zadar in a Group K match.