FIBA issued a statement over the Lithuania protest / News - Basketnews.com

FIBA rejected Lithuania's protest after referees didn't give the free throw for Germany's national team head coach Gordon Herbert's technical foul.

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

FIBA Europe has issued a statement regarding the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Group B game between Lithuania and Germany.

Player of the Game EFF 32 Franz Wagner Points 32 Accuracy 12-20 Rebounds 8 Assists 2

Following the conclusion of the game, the national team of Lithuania submitted a protest regarding the failure to award a merited free-throw following the technical foul assessed on Team Germany with 1:26 remaining in the third quarter.

The Single Judge deemed the protest inadmissible as the protest reasons were delivered outside the designated time of 60 minutes after the game, per the FIBA announcement.

They also noted that if the protest were admissible, it would have been rejected as the reason presented is not one of the reasons under which a protest can be filed.

"Their coach or their bench received a technical and we did not receive that shot," Lithuanian forwardMindaugas Kuzminskassaid after the game. "After our coaches started protesting, the commissioner just sat there all red and did nothing."

Lithuanialost the game against Germanyin a double-overtime thriller 107-109.

"The last time, it was Gobert. Now we don't get a free throw for a technical foul. If these referees continue their job in the EuroBasket, I don't even know what to say about FIBA," Lithuanian guardMarius Grigoniswas furious.

He confirmed the referees admitted the mistake.

"So what? It cost us the game. They will go home now, and that's all," Grigonis continued.

"I don't even know what to say when the referees forget to give a free throw. How is it even possible? That's high-school basketball," theNew Orleans Pelicanscenter Jonas Valanciunas added.

Lithuania head coach Kazys Maksvytis revealed the referees wanted to correct the mistake at the end of the regulation when the head referee acknowledged the error.

"But Germans protested against giving us a free throw shot claiming they will fill the protest then, and the referees were just too afraid of making the decision," Maksvytis confirmed.

The head coach also claimed that when he asked the referee why Lithuania didn't get a third free throw straight after the play, the official ordered me to sit down.

He doesn't expect the protest will change anything significantly.

"The game was so close, so you're fussy on every detail," Maksvytis added.

"I don't know, we should've won the game before [the overtime] just like the last two," Kuzminskas told BasketNews. "It's tough. That one shot that we weren't given cost us in the overtime. There's nothing you can do now. Maybe we paid too much attention to it."

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