Hoops team sets up surprise visit from player's mom five years after he left Lithuania

Jacksonville State center Norbertas Giga didn't expect to start crying during the meeting with his coaches ahead of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament in Evansville, Ind.

But when called to meet the coaching staff on Tuesday for a film study, Giga got a huge surprise. A coach opened a door and out walked his mom. Remarkably, it was the first time that Giga had seen his mother since 2013 when he arrived from Lithuania.

Both mother and son wept at the reunion as you can see in the video above.

"I didn't expect that at all. It just came out of nowhere," Giga said in a video provided to The Star. "I'm just speechless right now. I'm just happy for her to be here right now."

Giga said he knew something was up when he entered the room and all the coaches were there along with cameras.

"Think about not seeing your mom for (five) years and all of a sudden she's here for your senior conference tournament," Jacksonville State coach Ray Harper said in the video. "I think it means a lot to both of them, and I'm just happy that they could be together this week."

This story was originally published February 28, 2018 at 1:02 PM with the headline "Hoops team sets up surprise visit from player's mom five years after he left Lithuania."