CARACAS (FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament) - Lithuania escaped from an almighty struggle with Puerto Rico with a 76-72 victory and a spot in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament Semi-Finals.

A classic pick-and-roll drive and two free throws from Sarunas Jasikevicius (11 points) sealed the win after Puerto Rico had threatened to steal victory with help from a partisan crowd.

Linas Kleiza (14 points, 7 rebounds), Mantas Kalnietis (14 points, 3 assists) and Jonas Maciulis (10 points, 11 rebounds) led an evenly spread Lithuanian effort.

For Puerto Rico, bench forward Alex Galindo (17 points, 6 rebounds) and Carlos Arroyo (13 points, 8 assists) were the driving force as the islanders refused to quit.

Puerto Rico had several opportunities to draw clear in the first half, leading by eight and six in the first and second quarters respectively thanks to the inside-out combination of JJ Barea and Peter John Ramos.

But they could not string together baskets at the crucial time, whereas Martynas Pocius and Maciulis hit important buckets to keep Lithuania close.

With the Europeans being awarded 15 free three throws in the final 6:11 of the second quarter they took a 40-38 half-time lead

In contrast, it was Lithuania who couldn’t break away in the third quarter despite controlling play.

A spectacular Arroyo fade-away and a Galindo triple allowed Puerto Rico to reduce a seven-point  deficit to just two at the final break.

The story was the same in the final term, Lithuania out by seven before Arroyo and Galindo struck again to reduce the gap to one with 4:50 to play.

When Arroyo hit his second triple the crowd erupted and the Americans had their first lead since the second quarter.

In a gripping finale, Jasikevicius made his strong move to put his team up by one before a wild pass from Barea (5/15 field goals, 3 turnovers) robbed his team of a potentially game-winning shot.

Lithuania closed it out from the free-throw line and now play the Dominican Republic for a place at the London Olympics.

FIBA