BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Lithuania pocketed the fourth consecutive win to secure their leading position in a tough preliminary group, nailing down Croatia 86-73 on Saturday at a Group A match of the men's basketball competitions at the Beijing Olympic Games.

    Lithuania (4-0), which earned their tickets to the Beijing Olympics with the third finishing at the European Championships in 2007, defeated reigning champions Argentina and European champions Russia to top the group in previous games.

    Linas Kleiza went perfect by 4-out-of-4 from behind the arc to score 12 out of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, initiating a 22-3 run to claim the victory for Lithuania.

    Trailing by 62-58 at the end of the third period, Kleiza cracked down Croatia's mentality with a pair of on-the-face three-pointers when Lithuania went on for 11 un-answered points.

    Mindaugas Lukauskis led Lithuania by 20 points while Roko-Leni Ukic had 13 points for Croatia (2-2).

    Croatia bettered off Lithuania on the board in the first half (16-9) to lead 45-42 on the break.