Arizona's Azuolas Tubelis had 32 points and 12 rebounds though Canada still pulled out an 80-71 win over his Lithuaniaย team on Saturday at the FIBA U19 World Cup in Latvia.
The Canadians also won despite a rough offensive outing for Tubelis' Arizona teammate, Bennedict Mathurin, who made just 1 of 8 shots while missing all three 3-pointers he took. Mathurin had just four points in 24 minutes.
Tubelis was a model of efficiency, scoring his 32 points in 32 minutes while making 12 of 16 2-point shots, both 3-point shots he tried while pulling down 12 rebounds and dishing three assists
The Lithuanians led by up to 14 points but Tubelis said they weren't able to keep up with Canada's fast pace late in the game.
"Itโs hard to beat a team that runs all the game," Tubelis said on a FIBA interview. "We tried our best. Respect for my team."
Tubelis said the Lithuanians also struggled to defend Canada's size and physicality.
UA center Oumar Ballo had five points and eight rebounds for Mali in its 97-67 loss to Australia.
Former UA wing Tibet Gorener had five points and three assists off the bench for Turkey in itsย 83-54 loss to USA.
