INQUIRER Sports

ISTANBUL?(UPDATE) Lithuania and Argentina grabbed the final two quarter-final spots at the world basketball championships here on Tuesday, defeating China and Brazil respectively.

As expected, Lithuania got up over China 78-67, while in a game too close to call Argentina were pushed hard for their 93-89 victory over Brazil.

Lithuania had to overcome another slow start, finding themselves 11 points in arrears with the first quarter barely halfway through.

But as they did against Spain and France, Lithuania powered their way back into the game, mainly through the work of Linas Kleiza who led his team at both ends of the court, pulling down 11 defensive rebounds to go with his game-high 30 points.

Within the opening minutes of the second quarter Lithuania took the lead which they would not relinquish for the remainder of the evening, winning 78-67

Wei Lu top-scored for China with 21 points. Washington Wizards' Jianlian Yi overcame injury to play for China, taking 12 rebounds and scoring 11 points.

Chinese coach Bob Donewald Jr. remarked following the game that Kleiza was the key difference between the two teams and that if it were not for him, China could have won.

Slow starts have become something of a common theme for coach Kestutis Kemura's Lithuanian side here in Turkey. Kemura admits that he is at a loss on how to explain it or find a solution to it.

"I know we start slow but I ask myself why? It is becoming a tradition and it worries me, it's a bad tradition. But the good thing about this tradition is that we are winning at the end. But I do not want this habit to stay."

Team member Martynas Pocious acknowledges that it is an issue that needs to be addressed before they take on Argentina on Thursday.

Referring to the slow starts, Pocious commented that: "Hopefully we can do something about that before the next game so we are not in a position when we are down 10-20 points and having to fight back."

The round of 16 finished on Tuesday as it had begun on Saturday with another traditional encounter, this time between South American rivals Brazil and Argentina.

The last two days have given fans a number of one-sided games but early indications suggested that was to change as the teams finished the first quarter with scores fittingly tied at 25.

Throughout the second quarter it became no clearer who would prevail at the end of the game with a six point advantage gained by Argentina disappearing just as quickly as it had been gained with Marcelo Huertas of Brazil scoring the six final points of the quarter to hand his side back the lead at half-time 48-46.

The second half would mirror the first as the lead continued to change hands on multiple occasions as neither team refused to give an inch.

The crucial moment came midway through the final quarter when the Argentine lead again snuck out to four points. Brazil more than once cut the lead back to two but with possession in Argentina's favor, they were able to take control of the game to eventually prevail 93-89.

Luis Scola of the Houston Rockets completed the game as the matches' top-scorer and rebounder, claiming 35 points and nine rebounds.

Huertas was the best of the Brazilians with 32.

One of the key elements to Lithuanian victory will be shutting down Scola, the tournaments leading scorer.

Scola himself recognises this, stressing his desire for other players on his team to score big: "We (have) a lot of guys who can score 20 points. I will be happy if I do not score one night and one of the other guys goes for 20 to 25 points."