Kosovo basketball players on Friday night has suffered a loss against Lithuania in the game played in the presence of about 2500 viewers at the Youth and Sports Palace in Prishtina within Group C of the European World Cup qualifiers "China 2019".
The meeting ended with 99:61 (20:21, 15:14, 25:12, 39:14).
Our basketball players started the game well and thus the first quarter ended in their favor with the result 21:20.the second quarter it continued with the same rhythm, while the teams went on a break with equal score 35:35.
In the second quarter, Lithuania managed to gradually break into the result and thus ended the third quarter with 13 points difference, 60:47. In the last ten minutes, the Lithuanians applied very strong defense by stopping Kosovo in only 14 points, while they didn’t score less than 39.
The best known in Lithuania was Adas Juskevicius with 16 points and 5 assists, while the most effective in Kosovo was Lis Shoshi with 10 points and 4 rebounds.
Declared after the game:
Darius Adomaitis, selector of Lithuania:
"We've heard a lot about fans in Kosovo and it was confirmed today that they know how to make a real good atmosphere, but we did better, especially in the second half, when we came out and practiced very strong defense, knowing also that Kosovo does not have a good rotation, and all this made us finally mark very important victory here in Kosovo."
Ksistof Lavrinovic, the basketball player of Lithuania:
"We came here to score a win and we managed to do it. At first we were not easy because Kosovo was playing well, but in the second half we managed to play our game, which eventually brought us victory."
Brad Greenberg, Kosovo's selector:
"It was a tough match, as we have predicted." Lithuania is a very strong opponent, this is what we said before this confrontation. that in the end they get bigger, however the fact that we are playing in qualifications means a lot, especially for Kosovo, and we have to improve on those elements that we were not at the right level. in these qualifications, so we will prepare first for the next meeting against Hungary, and then we will see it go step by step. "
Lis Shoshi, basketball player of Kosovo:
"In the first half we played well, we were equal rivals to Lithuania, but in the second half they made things difficult and in the end we lost. This is just the beginning, we have no place and time to despair, so we will we continue to work to improve in our game. "
It should be noted that Kosovo will start debating with Hungary from 19:00 in Debrecen on Sunday. Part of Group C is also Poland.