TALLINN (Estonia) – Estonia made history in the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers as they defeated Lithuania 65-59 to remain unbeaten in Group H with their first win against their Baltic rivals.
Estonia had lost all eight previous matches against Lithuania, but Jukka Toijala’s men were spurred on by the Tallinn crowd and earned a second win to top the group.
Janari Joesaar led the way with 18 points for Estonia, who finally have some bragging rights over Lithuania after beating them in 1937, 1939, 1992, twice in 1995 and 1999 as well as in FIBA EuroBasket. 2015.
Turning point: Estonia went on a 16-0 run to 28-18 and led by 12 points in the first half. Estonia scored only 2 points in the first 8 minutes of the third quarter, but remained tied 52-52 in the fourth quarter.
Estonia kept Lithuania’s offense quiet for most of the final period and managed to take a 61-56 lead in the final moments. Kristian Kullamae hit a dagger layup with 28 seconds left for a 63-59 lead for the hosts. And Maik Kotsar scored on a layup on Osvaldas Olisevicius with 19 seconds left to ice the win.
Game Heroes: Although Janari Joesaar was the leading scorer, Maik Kotsar scored 11 points while grabbing 13 rebounds – 6 of which came off the offensive glass. He also had 1 assist and 1 steal – in addition to the big offensive foul that occurred in the final minute.
Don’t Lie Statistics: Estonia was a force on the boards with a 48-29 advantage and grabbed 15 offensive rebounds to just 2 for Lithuania. That led to a 10-3 margin in second-chance points.
Also, despite making just 25 field goals, Estonia managed 21 assists – to just 10 for Lithuania, who shot just 39.2 percent for the game.
Conclusion: Estonia will go into the second window with some nice momentum at 2-0 as they face two games against Poland in November 2024. Lithuania are 1-1 after the first window and have two meetings with North Macedonia.
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FIBA