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Bogut scoreless as Boomers lose

Lithuania beat the Boomers 80-68 in the first of four warm-up games in Europe ahead of a much-anticipated showdown against New Zealand.

Andrew Bogut made an extremely quiet return for Australia in the match, his first at international level in seven years.

Coming off his NBA championship with the Golden State Warriors, Bogut failed to score in his 20 minutes on court as the Boomers went down by 12 points to world No.4 Lithuania.

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The centre shot 0-7 from the field and finished with four fouls, though he did provide three assists in the match in Klaipeda, Lithuania.

Brock Motum led Australia’s scoring with 19 points, while David Andersen laid on 12 points and Chris Goulding 10.

Dante Exum was back on target after rolling his ankle for the Utah Jazz in the NBA Summer League, shooting 3-4 for six points in just under 20 minutes of play.

Fellow NBA players Matthew Dellevadova and Cameron Bairstow were both rested.

“This is the first competitive game for a few of our guys in two or three months and so it was always going to take a little bit of time just to find out rhythm,” said Boomers coach Andrej Lemanis.

“That’s why we’re here – to find our rhythm and improve as a team.”

The Boomers led by eight points at quarter time, but were outscored in the second and final terms.

Lithuania reached the semi-finals of last year’s FIBA World Cup – where the Boomers beat them 82-75 in the group stages.

The two sides face each other again on Friday, before Australia head to Slovenia for another two warm-up games in preparation for Oceania Olympic qualifiers against New Zealand, starting in Melbourne on August 15.

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