Sports
From Lithuania to Lemont: Basketball Globe Trotters
Lithuania-born Paulus Otruskevicius, Antanas Rauchas and Germantas Valionis, as well as the rest of the junior-laden Indians, are still trying to succeed in their roles and play consistent basketball.
The Lithuanian Indians.
That’s got a nice sound to it, doesn’t it?
So much attention, and deservedly so, goes to Lemont’s senior standout Evan Bridwell, but eight of Lemont’s 11 boys basketball regulars are juniors who are still getting acclimated to playing in the varisty ranks. In addition to Bridwell, only senior Bill Luzzo and junior starting point guard Joe O'Brien received notable playing time last season.
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Paulus Otruskevicius, Antanas Rauchas and Germantas Valionis are three of those juniors whose names have been nightmarish for opposing team’s public address announcers. They also share the common bond of having been born in Lithuania before coming over to the States.
At 6-2 and 195 pounds, Otruskevicius is one of the Indians biggest players. Fellow junior Matt Lipowski also is listed at 195 pounds and is slightly taller at 6-3.
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“We’re playing well but not for all 32 minutes,” Otruskevicius said. “We need to have all five (players) playing at once, not four, three or two. We need all five.”
Otruskevicius scored nine points in a 70-58 lost to Joliet Catholic Academy on Monday.
“He’s played better in the past week and a half,” Lemont coach Rick Runaas said.
Arriving in the United States at age 7, Otruskevicius has been playing basketball alongside Valionis for nine years and with Rauchas for the past five years.
“Antanas (Rauchas) is more of a No. 2 (guard) and Germantas (Valionis) is a No. 1 (guard),” Runaas said. “Unfortunately, we have too many 5-foot-10 guys and not enough guys 6-foot-5.”
Inconsistency has been the biggest problem for Lemont (7-11), especially with so many newcomers thrown into the mix this winter. Against JCA, Martin Sosinski got a surprise start and responded with 14 points and seven rebounds. Now the question is where or not Sosinski can make similar contributions on a regular basis.
“He did really well and it probably earned him another start,” Runaas said. “The problem with playing juniors is consistency. A lot of them will pop up and be very good one night and then not so good the next. We need them to be more consistent.”
And they’ll also need to be very good as the Indians have some very tough opponents on their schedule. Lemont closes out January with games against Bremen, Providence Catholic and Tinley Park, while Thornton Fractional North, Thornton Fractional South, Stagg and Hillcrest are standing on deck for games in February.
