OLYMPICS / Barcelona 1992: Basketball: Lithuania surrender

LITHUANIA'S basketball players were inconsolable last night after blowing a 19-point second- half lead to lose 92-80 to the Unified Team.

They trounced them by 37 points a month ago in the pre- qualifying tournament, but could not repeat the effort. 'We over-estimated our abilities,' the coach, Vladas Garastas, said after watching the Unified Team score 11 points without reply at the end.

Both teams fielded four of the Soviet gold medal team of 1988, and, far from being a grudge match, the players produced one of the best-tempered games of the tournament.