Lithuania made it four wins from four by beating Italy 79-74 in the qualifying round of the European championship.

The 2003 winners had shooting guard Rimantas Kaukenas to thank for a game-high 22 points but the inspiration came from playmaker Sarunas Jasikevicius, who snarled and grimaced his way through the second half, hindered by a groin injury.

The experienced 31-year-old sank 13 points and provided four assists.

"Italy are a great team and we expected it to be a tough battle. We're glad to have the win but definitely there's still a lot we can improve on," said Lithuania forward Linas Kleiza.

"We were a bit too relaxed at times. We have to stay more focused and try and hold on to our leads."

Lithuania let slip an 11-point advantage early on and were forced to sweat it out at the end. They also blew a 21-point advantage against Germany before coming through the previous round.

Top performer for the Italians was Toronto Raptors youngster Andrea Bargnani with 15 points and seven rebounds.

Surprise-package Slovenia joined Lithuania at the top of Group F after seeing off bottom of the table Turkey 66-51.

They ran away with the game at the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth, outscoring the Turks 21-1, with Uros Slokar coming off the bench to score 12 points in 19 minutes.

Tony Parker and France proved too strong for Dirk Nowitzki and Germany, pulling away to a 78-66 win in the same group that leaves the 2005 silver medallists struggling in fourth place.

Tournament top scorer Nowitzki notched a game-high 28 points and hauled down six rebounds but it was not enough to derail third-placed France.

Parker, the Most Valuable Player from the NBA Finals last season, top scored for France with 23 points and added three assists and four rebounds.

"In the first round we didn't move the ball well and sometimes just watched Tony Parker make plays. Today we did much better in that respect," French forward Florent Pietrus said.

"The players were more active and moved the ball so it was easier for us to score and win the game."

Four of the six teams in the group will progress to the quarter-finals.

Reuters