MANILA, Philippines – Lithuania’s up-and-down run in the 2023 FIBA World Cup continues after it soundly outplayed the Luka Doncic-led Slovenia, 100-84, in the resumption of the classification phase at the Mall of Asia Arena on Thursday, September 7.

After riding the extreme high of a 110-104 stunner over USA and enduring the extreme low of a 68-87 ouster at Serbia’s hands, the world No. 8 program again trended way up as it led Slovenia by as many as 23 points in the second half before settling for a 16-point margin in the end.

For top Lithunanian star Jonas Valanciunas, the resurgent motivation stemmed simply from the fact that every game is a tribute for their country, and that they haven’t lost sight of what’s truly important even after elimination.

“We’re playing for the fans. We’re playing for the people who came here to support us,” he said. “We’re not going to give up those two games. Probably, they don’t mean too much [to others], but we’re fighting for our people, our country.”

“It was tough to find energy after the loss to Serbia, but I’m happy we found it. I’m happy we came really prepared, really ready for this game. We’re not going to give up.”

“Ready” is an understatement for Lithuania against Slovenia, as former NBA players Ignas Brazdeikis and Mindaugas Kuzminskas combined for 29 points on a near-perfect 11-of-13 shooting and 7-of-8 from three.

Valanciunas, meanwhile, commanded the post with a tournament-best 24 points on an 8-of-15 clip, while the rest of the Lithuanian perimeter defenders limited Doncic to just 3 second-half points on a 1-of-10 clip.

“It was not a big challenge [to bounce back] because our guys were really hungry,” Valanciunas continued. “As we saw today, everybody who came out, who stepped on the floor was playing good basketball.”

Lithuania can finish as high as fifth place on Saturday, September 9, with a win over Cinderella team Latvia, and Valanciunas can guarantee that he and his teammates will keep their foot on the gas until the end.

“No matter what happened two days ago, [we are] still fighting, diving on the court, not saving [ourselves], and leaving everything on the court. I’m happy with what we got in the locker room. I’m happy how guys were contributing.” – Rappler.com