Lithuania gave birthday boy and team captain Ramunas Siskauskas the best possible present on the day as they beat France 88-73 to remain undefeated (4-0) and remain top Group F of the 2007 EuroBasket.

The 2003 EuroBasket champions led by as many as 20 points at one point in the first half and recovered from a slow start in the third quarter to send France (2-2) to their second loss of the qualifying round, putting their chances of reaching the quarter-finals in the balance.

Siskauskas, who turned 29, finished with a game-high 19 points and was glad to have a

		Parker was kept in check, finishing with only 11 points.

good performance on the day.

“It's my birthday today, so everybody has to play good on his birthday. That's the rule, right?” he joked afterwards.

“We played well in the first half, but then allowed them to come back. We shouldn't allow that in the next games, but I'm happy that we made it work this time. Everybody who went on court played a good game today.”

“It's not the first game where we are 20 points up and then we go down and it's difficult against a good team like France to maintain the same intensity. They came back but still we got good moments.”

Center Robertas Javtokas was slightly concerned with the team’s lack of intensity right after the break but conceded it was a regular bad habit of theirs.

“We always have trouble coming out for the second half, but we managed to overcome it tonight,” he admitted. “We just kept playing and showed our best no matter who we play against.”

This was a tough loss for France coach Claude Bergeaud who thought his side may not have been ready for the huge task.

“They (Lithuania) played very well and very aggressive. They jump, run and shoot. They know how to play together. We were not ready to play tonight. We couldn't get into our offense like we did against Germany,” he said.

Lithuania used a 17-2 spurt in the first 4:30 of the second quarter to turn a 20-19 deficit into a 36-20 advantage.

They had their biggest lead of the night, 42-22, when Simas Jasaitis made a fastbreak lay up with 2:59 left in the first half and went into the break ahead by 16, 48-32.

But Bergeaud’s men were the stronger team coming out of the locker room. They used a 10-0 run in the first two minutes of the third quarter to come back within striking distance at 48-42 behind two three-pointers by Florent Pietrus and Yakhouba Diawara and a lay up by Tony Parker.

Diawara hit another long bomb to cut the deficit to five, 50-45 but that’s as close as France got.

Lithuania awoke from their funk and used an 8-0 spurt to recover their double-digit lead at 63-52 on Siskaukas’ three-pointer with under 2:30 left in the period.

The final quarter was then pretty much a formality, as France couldn’t muster another big rally while Lithuania got back to their old and better ways of the first half.

The game started as a very gritty affair as the teams combined for 15 fouls and 22 free-throw attempts in the first quarter.

Lithuania had the advantage for the most part of the opening period and had a seven-point lead, 17-10, after Rimantas Kaukenas made a pair of free-throws.

Les Bleus though finished the period on a 9-2 run – capped off by Tony Parker’s three-point play – to trail by just one, 19-18.

Bergeaud’s men then took the lead, 20-19, when back-up center Pape Badiane made a dunk in the first minute of the second quarter but they then went without a single point for 4:30mins as their opponents went on an incredible run.

Jasikevicius had 14 points and seven assists for Lithuania who will face Slovenia in their last game of the qualifying round, with both teams having already secured their places in the last eight.

Florent Pietrus had a game-high 13 points for France while Tony Parker was held to a quiet 11 points as he had to deal with Lithuania’s stifling defense. They will face Turkey – who earlier today bowed out of the competition – in a game that could decide their fate.

Lithuania

Center Robertas Javtokas: "It's true I didn't play much in the last two games, but for every game we need different stuff, and today coach gave me more time and I'm happy that we won. We always have trouble coming out to the second half, but we managed to overcome it tonight. We just keep playing and show our best no matter who we play against."

Forward Darius Songaila: "France moved to a small line up and it took us some minutes to figure out how to play against that. By then they were back in the game, but we took off quick and won another game."

"I don't know why we have ups and downs during the games. We just want to go out every game and win, and that's what we'll try to do in our next game. One by one."

Guard Ramunas Siskauskas: "It's my birthday today, so everybody has to play good on his birthday. That's the rule, right? We played well in the first half, but then allowed them to come back. We shouldn't allow that in the next games, but I'm happy that we made it work this time. Everybody who went on court played a good game today."

France

Coach Claude Bergeaud: "They played very well and very aggressive. They jump, run and shoot. They know how to play together. The French national team was not ready to play tonight. And I regret the start that we didn't begin very strong."

"They pressed and trapped Tony Parker, and we couldn't get into our offense like we did against Germany."

"We tried to stay proud at the end of the game."

"That's the best team we've faced. They played better than Slovenia. They are tall but they shoot. Everyone can shoot the ball from long range. Maybe we were disturbed early that they can shoot so well. This is the first time in my four years that we shot 36 three-pointers."

Forward Florent Pietrus: "It was a bad game for us but no matter. We know we have another big game to come. But it was just a bad day. They played good basketball. They're a big team and we couldn't defend them in the end. Maybe later in the competition we'll meet them again."

Forward Yakhouba Diawara: "We are disappointed with how we started the game. We showed a lot of intensity in the third quarter and we should have played more like that the rest of the game."

"We didn't show up and they showed up. And they did what they were supposed to do in the first 20 nminutns, they played as a team."

"We came back in the third quarter and showed that we can play as well. We got it back down to four points."

France will bid to end Lithuania's undefeated run so far in EuroBasket 2007 when the teams meet today in a rematch of a 2005 EuroBasket quarter-final.

Two years ago, Claude Bergeaud's men scored a big upset when they knocked out the then defending champions with a 63-47 win behind Boris Diaw's 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Lithuania currently tops Group F with a 3-0 record and, along with Slovenia, are the only two remaining undefeated teams left and have both already qualified for the quarter-finals.

France go into today's game knowing that a win will secure their place in the last eight.

		As usual Parker will lead the way for France.

Last Time Out: Tony Parker scored 23 points and got a lot of help from Florent Pietrus and Tariq Kirksay as France beat Germany 78-66 in their first game of the qualifying round. Meanwhile, Rimantas Kaukenas tallied 22 points as Lithuania overcame a groin injury to Sarunas Jasikevicius to hold off Italy 79-74 as Ramunas Butautas's side became the first to secure its passage to the last eight round.

Key Match-up: Parker vs. Jasikevicius. If the Lithuania point guard is healthy - in addition to the groin injury he picked up against Italy, he also has had a right knee injury since the team's second game of the group stages and has had to wear a big brace - he will make things very tough on his French counterpart. If Jasikevicius is healthy enough, then this will make for a great battle. After a relatively slow start in his team's win against Poland, Parker has been in fine form in the last three games.

Statistics: With Boris Diaw having a quiet game offensively against Germany, Pietrus and Kirksay stepped up their play and combined for 24 points. More importantly, they were the ones who helped France turn the game in their favour when they accounted for 10 of the points in a 15-2 run to turn a 28-28 tie into a 43-30 lead in the second quarter.

X-Factor: Jasikevicius' status. If his injuries get the better of him, look for Lithuania to turn to Kaukenas once again.

Sounding Off: "Since Jasikevicius left the Lithuanian national team, they haven't won much of anything and I don't think that's a coincidence. Now that he has returned, they've benefited from his leadership, his scoring and his good set of skills. They've built the team around him. But stopping him alone won't be enough to beat Lithuania. They have six scorers on that team and we must try to stop them too." - France coach Claude Bergeaud.