Lithuania have withstood an inspired game by Egyptian guard Amro Sherif Abdelhalim to take a 94-73 victory at the FIBA U19 World Championship in Auckland, and place one foot in the quarter finals.
Sherif Abdelhalim scored 19 points and pulled down 5 rebounds in the first half as the African champions trailed by just two, 42-40 at half time.
Egypt in fact led 17-8 with 5:07 remaining in the first quarter, and were within 25-27 at the first break.
But the Lithuanian defence stepped up a gear in the third quarter, and a tired Sherif Abdelhalim could no longer keep his team in touch with the European runners up. Lithuania outscored their rivals 28-11 in the third quarter and 24-22 in the last quarter to run out 21-point victors.
Sherif Abdelhalim finished with 26 points and 9 rebounds in a very impressive display. No other Egyptian reached double figures or pulled in more than 6 rebounds in a team that was out-rebounded 43-22, but forced Lithuania into 23 turnovers. Sherif Abdelhalim again led the way with 6 steals.
Lithuania now have three wins and look certain to move through to the semi finals. Gediminas Bertasius was excellent (24 points, 9/1 fg, 5 rebounds, 5 steals), as were Donatas Motiejunas (16 points, 10 rebounds) and Gediminas Orelik (14 points).
Tomorrow, Egypt face another tough assignment in Greece, while Lithuania face France at 5:00pm at the North Shore Events Centre.
Angola has been ruled out after losing their three Group A games.