Bengaluru, 19th July 2017: India’s William Jones campaign continued on Day 5 against the Lithuania Atletas club team.
The Indian men’s basketball team found its shooting touch early. They were quick out of the blocks, building up a 26-17 lead at the end of the first quarter. But the Lithuanians clawed their way back in the second quarter, taking a six point lead into halftime. Even though the Indians continued to shoot the ball well, the Lithuanians were better, eventually winning the game 102-79.
Despite the loss, there were positives all round for India. After a quiet couple of games, Amjyot Singh Gill was the star for India with 28 points. He was on fire from the field, hitting seven of ten shots from two-point range and shooting at 44% from beyond the arc. Young forward Muin Bek Hafeez had another strong outing, falling just short of a double-double with 8 points and 10 rebounds.
Significantly, India’s bench combined to score 30 points.
For Lithuania, five players finished with scores in double figures, led by Žygimantas Jocys (21 points) and Domantas Šeškus (20 points).
After today’s performance, the Indian men will be focused on notching up their first win of the tournament when they play Republic of China-White (Chinese Taipei National Team ‘B’) on 20th July at 1500 hrs CST (1230 IST).
Lithuania (Žygimantas Jocys 21 pts; Domantas Šeškus 20 pts; Vaidotas Volkus 14 pts) bt India (Amjyot Singh Gill 28 pts, 6 rebs; Rikin Pethani 9 pts; Muin Bek Hafeez 8 pts, 10 rebs) 102-79 [17-26, 32-17, 24-14, 29-22]
