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Lithuania nets men's bronze
ATLANTA (AP) -- Arvydas Sabonis and Sarunas Marciulionis, Lithuania's
NBA players and Olympic veterans, came through Saturday night and won
their third medal and the country's second straight bronze, 80-74 over
Australia.
Sabonis, who plays for the Portland Trail Blazers, had 30 points, 13
rebounds and five blocks. Marciulionis, who plays for the Denver Nuggets,
had 16 points and nine assists in the game that wasn't decided until
Sabonis' three-point play and Marciulionis' two free throws in the final
35 seconds.
The celebration after the game was subdued compared to four years ago,
when Lithuania beat the Unified Team for the bronze in its first Olympics
as an independent country. Sabonis and Marciulionis were key players for
the Soviet Union team that won the gold medal in 1988.
Australia, which matched its best finish in the 1988 games, took the lead
for the last time at 58-57 with 10:11 to play on a turnaround jumper by Scott
Fisher. That's when Sabonis and Marciulionis began to dominate.
Sabonis fed Rimas Kurtinaitis, another three-Olympic veteran, with a behind
-the-back bounce pass for a 3-pointer that gave Lithuania (5-3) the lead for
good with 9:38 left. Sabonis then scored all the points in Lithuania's 7-1
run that made it 67-59 with 6:37 left. Six straight points had Australia
(5-3) within 71-70 with 2:18 left. But Marciulionis and Sabonis scored all
but two of the points the rest of the way and Lithuania again had its bronze
-- and the NBA stars had their third medal.
Arturas Karnishovas, who played at Seton Hall, added 21 points for Lithuania,
which was 9-for-18 from 3-point range, while Kurtinaitis had nine.
Andrew Gaze, who also played at Seton Hall, led Australia with 25 points on
5-for-9 3-point shooting. Mark Bradtke and Fisher each had 13. Australia was
10-for-21 on 3s, but Shane Heal had an off-night from long range. He was
3-for-9 and finished with 11 points. Lithuania lost to Yugoslavia 66-58 in
the semifinals, while Australia lost 101-73 to the United States.
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