FIBA World Cup: Team USA advances, heartbreak for Lithuania

Lithuania out after wild finish with France

At Nanjing, Lithuania made a bold charge after France took its largest lead early in the second half. Les Bleus took a commanding 59-42 lead about four minutes into the third quarter when Andrew Albicy dropped in a 3-pointer and it looked like the Lithuanians might be done.

They had other plans.

The French still held an 11-point lead going into the fourth quarter, but the Lithuanians put together a devastating 15-3 stretch in the first 5½ minutes of the period, taking the lead on Lukas Lekavicius’ 3-pointer with 4:27 remaining.

The teams played ping pong with the lead over the next couple of minutes. Evan Fournier of the Orlando Magic converted a drive with 3:33 left to give France a 70-69 edge, but Jonas Maciulis drained a 3-pointer on Lithuania’s next possession to make it 72-70 in their favor.

With 40 seconds left, Fournier converted a floater in the lane to give the French a 76-74 lead and then … it got weird.

Jonas Valanciunas of the Memphis Grizzlies thought he had converted a tip-in to tie the game, but Nicolas Batum of the Charlotte Hornets had been whistled for a foul on Valanciunas’ first shot attempt.

The big man sank the first free throw. The second was hopping around on the rim before Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz slapped it off. France got the rebound and De Colo hit a fadeaway jumper from about 10 feet to put France ahead 78-75.

Needing a 3-pointer, Lithuania could only muster a wild attempt by Maciulis as time was winding down. After the game, Lithuanian coach Dainus Adomaitis charged after the officials — at one point looking as if he was going to follow them down the tunnel.

At issue was Gobert’s play on Valanciunas’ second free throws. FIBA rules allow players to bat the ball off the rim while it’s in the cylinder — the opposite of rules used throughout the U.S.

But they cannot make contact with the rim when they do so. Replays showed Gobert banged the rim while hitting the ball, which should have been a goaltending violation and two points — not just one — for Lithuania.

So instead of being down one, they would have been up one. If De Colo still make the shot, Lithuania needs a 2 to win rather than a 3 to tie — so the complexion of the final 30 seconds was changed dramatically with the non-call and the refusal by the officials to review it.

France advances to the quarterfinals with their win, in any case, with Fournier leading the way with 24 points and De Colo adding 21. Gobert finished with nine points and eight rebounds in 23 minutes — he was in foul trouble throughout the second half.

Valanciunas finished with 18 points and eight boards for Lithuania, which shot just 23-for-60 (38.3 percent) overall and was only 5-of-19 (26.3 percent) from 3-point range.

France hit 45.2 percent (28-for-62) and made 9-of-23 (39.1 percent) from beyond the arc. That was enough to make Lithuania’s hopes disappear. Fin.

In the opener at Nanting, Australia never trailed, but the Dominican Republic never went away either.

The Boomers were able to pull away in the fourth quarter, pushing the lead to 11 with 6:06 remaining when Joe Ingles of the Utah Jazz got a steal and pushed the ball ahead to Mitch Creek, who found Josh Landale streaking down the lane for an alley-oop flush.

The Dominicans were never able to get closer than six the rest of the way.

Patty Mills of the San Antonio Spurs finished with 19 points and nine assists for Australia, while Chris Goulding added 15 points. Matthew Dellavedova of the Cleveland Cavaliers had seven assists and Inglis notched three steals.

Australia was in a giving mood, turning the ball of 16 times, but also recording assists on all 30 of their made buckets. The Boomers were 46.2 percent overall (30-for-65) but just 9-for-27 (33.3 percent) from long range.

Eloy Vargas banged his way to 16 points for the Dominican Republic, while Gelvis Solano notched nine assists. Victor Liz ended with 14 points and four steals and Rigoberto Mendoza booked 12 points and three thefts.

On Monday, the Dominican Republic and Lithuania — each 2-2 — meet for seeding position in the 9-16 classification round at 4 a.m. Eastern, followed by the unbeatens — France and Australia — tipping off at 8 a.m. Eastern for quarterfinal seeding.