De Liaño has 13-8-8 for Wolves in tuneup

FILIPINO basketball player Juan Gomez de Liaño has logged his first points in Lithuania as his team, the BC Wolves, outplayed BC Pieno žvaigždes in an exhibition game in Pasvalys, Lithuania on Sunday (Manila time), 93-83.

De Liaño, who wears jersey number 1 for the Wolves in the Lithuanian pro basketball league Lietuvos krepšinio lyga (LKL), logged 13 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists in 26 minutes of playing time.

His Frenchman teammate Hugo Invernizzi, meanwhile, led the team in scoring with 18 points.

The Vilnius-based team only fielded nine players in the game, as Eigirdas Žukauskas and Kristupas Žemaitis of Lithuania and Marcos Delía of Argentina saw action for their respective teams in the FIBA World Cup qualifying tournaments.

While Lithuania (8-2) already booked a spot in the 2023 FIBA World

Cup, Argentina (7-3) is still vying for a berth against Venezuela (7-3) and Dominican Republic (7-3) in the Americas Qualifiers.

De Liaño, who signed with the Wolves in late October, felt at home right away with his Lithuanian team.

“Basketball in Lithuania is very detailed. It’s more like structured basketball. They run a lot of plays, they have a lot of ball movement, I would say a little bit of up-tempo as well. They like to run a lot but guys here are very smart and they have high IQ,” he said in an interview with the club.

The 12-team league will resume its games on November 19 and de Liaño will have his chance of scoring his first official points in the LKL when the Wolves hosts BC Prienai on November 21 at the Alytus Arena.

The Wolves are currently in fifth place with a 5-3 win-loss record.