Four teams have qualified to Eurobasket 2015 as the picture begins to look much clearer than it did last week.
Group A
Bosnia & Herzegovina are the first team through to next year’s Eurobasket after they defeated Great Britain 74-68.
Bosnia improves to 3-0 and head to their last game against surprise package Iceland knowing that a win or even a loss by less than 10 points will secure top spot. Iceland can still qualify themselves as one of the six best runners-up.
GB finish their disappointing qualifying campaign 0-4 and rock bottom of the group.
Group B
Israel qualified from Group B following a convincing 83-60 success over Netherlands in Nicosia.
The result means that Israel top the group, leaving the Dutch and Montenegro to battle it out for second place in the group as Montenegro coasted to an 84-73 victory over bottom placed Bulgaria.
“There was big pressure on us to win,” Montenegrin coach Luca Pavicevic said. “This game was a preparation for us for the last game in this group against Netherlands. For us it was really important to win, so the imperative against Holland is 6 points. 6 points is a lot against Netherlands. It is hard to beat them and much harder to win against them with more points. So the game here was very important for us.”
Group C
It’s still all to play for in Group C with Poland, Germany and Austria still in with a shot of qualification.
Germany held Austria to just 6 points in the final quarter, en route to an 88-69 win with Dennis Schroder’s 24 points a standout. While Poland enjoyed a simple 100-64 win minnows Luxembourg in Koszalin.
Group D
Belgium are assured of a spot at Eurobasket 2015 after they defeated Belarus 99-73 on the road. The Lions are assured of a spot due to their overall results.
Elsewhere in the group FYR of Macedonia routed Denmark 80-46 and see themselves in with a shot at next year’s Eurobasket.
Group E
Tomas Satoransky hit 18 points to help Czech Republic to a 75-61 win over Portugal.
The Czechs now lead the group with 4-1 while Georgia and Hungary are right behind them at 3-2 but all three teams maintain options to qualify. Portugal however, who have dropped to 0-5, have already exited the qualification race.
Georgia defeated Hungary 79-59 in the other game in Group E.
Group F
Latvia have extended their unbeaten run to 5 games and have thus qualified for Eurobasket with a convincing 89-65 win in the Slovak Republic.
“We knew it wouldn´t be an easy game because the Slovak team played at home, but we had control all game,” said Latvian coach Ainars Bagatskis said. “Our shooters were good and we won.”
An Adrian Gutoaia buzzer-beater lifted Romania to an 88-86 win in Sweden as they strengthen their claim for Eurobasket qualification.
Group G
After starting 0-2, Russia are top of Group G following a 72-68 win over Italy.
Russia finish at 2-2 but have to wait on other results and see what happens in the final game of the group between Switzerland and Italy.
