The Lithuania bench celebrates after defeating Argentina （Photo credit： Getty Images）Photo Gallery%26gt；%26gt；
（BEIJING， August 10） -- 2004 Olympic champion Argentina will have to work a little harder to defend its gold spot on the podium， after starting the Men's Basketball preliminary round with a last-second 79-75 loss to World No. 4 Lithuania on August 10.
Argentina only managed to outscore Lithuania in the fourth quarter， 30-28， but it was too little too late. Lithuania got double-digit contributions from five players， led by Linas Kleiza with 13 points and Robertas Javtokas with 12 points and five rebounds. Sarunas Jasikevicius had a great overall game with ten points， eight assists and four rebounds.
Lithuania ended the first quarter with a 14-11 lead， and it was only in the last four and a half minutes of the half where one of Argentina's stars of the game， guard Carlos Delfino， came out strong. Delfino first hit a big three-pointer to narrow the gap 23-20， and later had two in the paint and sunk two free throws when he was fouled after a successful steal。
With 1：02 minutes left in the first half， Argentina's Pablo Prigioni made an unsportsmanlike foul on Jasikevicius， who hit his foul shots plus two more when Progioni again fouled him five seconds later. Lithuania's lead was 32-26 when Argentina's NBA superstar Manu Ginobili took the chance to tighten the score with two made free throws and Scola put up another two points before Lithuania called a time-out. The teams went to the break 34-30， and Lithuania only outscored Argentina by one point in the quarter. Argentina shot eight for eight on their free throws in this half， and Delfino led his team with a big 10 points.
In the third quarter， Lithuania entered and exited on top， but not without fighting through four lead changes. Delfino was relatively quiet in this quarter with just one made free throw， as were Ginobili and Scola with only two points each. Argentina's center Fabricio Oberto had five points with three rebounds
The last quarter got frantic even though Lithuania held the advantage throughout. Argentina did manage to lead in scoring by two points in this quarter， however， and it was free throws by Progioni that started their failed attempt at turning the tide. Prigioni's two turns at the line narrowed the gap to 75-71，and after Lithuania had several scoreless possessions， Argentina was looking to come from behind. They forced Lithuania to call another time-out when Delfino got a board and put back up two points. Lithuania returned with a shot clock-violation and Argentina again capitalized with two points in the paint from Scola to even the score for the first time in the quarter 75-75.
With 20 seconds left and Lithuania's possession， the crowd was on its feet. Forward Kleiza hit a three-pointer leaving just 2.1 seconds for Argentina to make up the difference， not enough time though they tried by stopping the clock with fouls and sending Siskauskas to the line for one more point， ending the match 79-75.
World No. 2 Argentina was led by Ginobili with the game-high 19 points and Andres Nocioni with 15 points and nine rebounds. Delfino ended the game with 13 points and six rebounds.
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