Despite Štombergas’ beastly performance – the U18s started the championship with a defeat

In the first Group C match, Lithuanians lost 76:86 (16:18, 13:27, 28:16, 19:22) to their peers from Slovenia.

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At the beginning of the third quarter, Lithuania was trailing by 19 points – 29:47, but then they started to climb out of the hole, and after the third quarter, only 4 points separated the teams (57:61). However, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Slovenians pulled ahead again.

Ignas Štombergas scored 27 points for the Lithuanians (11/14 2pt, 1/2 3pt, 2/5 FT) and grabbed 9 rebounds, accumulating 34 efficiency points.

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Emilis Žibuda scored 10, Benas Biržinis – 9 points.

For Slovenia, Stefan Joksimović scored 22 points, Igor Stjepanović – 17, Maks Čiperle – 15.

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In the group, the Lithuanians will also meet Bulgaria and Germany.