Ukraine beats Lithuania, Bagatskis gets upper hand over Kurtinaitis

The Ukrainian men's national basketball team, led by Latvian coach Ainars Bagatskis, secured a victory over Lithuania, coached by Rimas Kurtinaitis. The game was tightly contested.

Lithuania took an early lead in the first quarter, going up by as many as ten points (24:14). In the second quarter, the hosts maintained a slim advantage (34:35), but Ukraine fought back to tie the game at 55:55 by halftime.

After the break, Lithuania regained the lead (61:55), but Ukraine took control in the latter part of the third quarter. Lithuania managed to tie the game only once more (87:87), but Ukraine prevailed in the end.

For Lithuania, Ažuolas Tubelis led the scoring with 28 points and eight rebounds. NBA player Jonas Valančiūnas added 16 points and 13 rebounds. Debutant Kasparas Jakučionis, playing his first senior national team game, contributed 12 points and ten assists.

Ukraine was led by Utah Jazz forward Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk with 26 points. Oleksandr Kovliar added 23 points and eight rebounds.

In upcoming World Cup qualifiers, Lithuania (2-2 record) will face Great Britain (1-3) and Italy (3-1), while Ukraine (2-2) will play Georgia (2-2) in Riga and Denmark (0-4) away.