Aug. 1, 2008

Former Gamecock Marijonas Petravicius will play basketball for Lithuania at the 2008 Olympics in Bejing, China. In an exibition game earlier this morning, the Lithuanian National Men’s Basketball Team fell to the United States 120-84. Petravicius scored seven points and got five rebounds in the contest.

The 6-foot-9 center played in 109 games from 1999 through 2003 for South Carolina, scoring an average 7.2 points per game. During his junior season, he led the Gamecocks with a .507 field goal percentage.

In his professional career, Petravicius won the 2005-06 Latvian National Championship with BC Ventspils, the 2004 FIBA Europe Cup Champions. He was named the 2004 FIBA Europe Cup Finals MVP. In the 2005-06 Latvian League Finals, Petravicius again received the MVP award. Now playing for Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius, he won the 2007 Baltic League.

The Lithuania National Team won the third place game at Eurobasket 2007 against Greece, which allowed them to qualify for the Olympic basketball tournament without competition at the 2008 Pre-Olympics Tournament. Lithuania has one more preparation game tomorrow against Turkey. The team plays its first game against Argentina on August 10.

Lithuania has not competed in the Olympics since 2004 when it finished just short of a bronze medal, in fourth place. The Lithuania National Basketball Team has a total of three bronze medals, which it won in the first three Olympics to feature NBA players–1992, 1996 and 2000.