Home FIBA EuroBasket 2015 EuroBasket round up (group stage, day 2)

EuroBasket round up (group stage, day 2)

With teams now getting used to their surroundings, some can try and put one foot into the second round, while the others look to get their campaign under way.

Group A

Poland improved to 2-0 in Group A as they edged winless Russia 82-79 in Montpellier.

Adam Waczynski hit four three-pointers, on his way to a game-high 23 points but the Poles needed to hang on in the last three minutes as a 7-1 run by Russia threatened to turn the tables.

Israel continued their surprisingly good run of form as they toppled Finland 79-66 in game number two.

The Israelis began strongly, racing out to a 25-13 lead after the first quarter and their team play at both ends proved too much for the Finns as they now have work to do in order to progress further in the tournament.

Lior Eliyahu led the victors with 22 points, rendering Erik Murphy’s 24 points for Finland, pointless.

Co-hosts France showed the first signs of their class as they dismantled Bosnia & Herzegovina 81-54 in the final game of the day in Montpellier.

However, their dominance was not properly on show until the third period, when they went on a 21-0 run, which spanned six minutes to see them home with ease.

Joffrey Lauvergne and Nando De Colo both led the French with 12 points as they remain undefeated.

Group B

Nemanja Bjelica broke German hearts in Berlin as his floater along the baseline with 0.9 seconds left gave Serbia a 68-66 win.

Germany drop to 1-1, and will be kicking themselves on how they dropped this game.

Heiko Schaffartzik nailed a triple to tie the scores at 66-66 with 23 seconds left, but were still not in the penalty, so they quickly fouled Milos Teodosic twice. The last time around, rather than receiving, the Serbia captain in-bounded the ball to Bjelica at the baseline, who spinned and finished above a forest of raised German hands, resolving a game which featured 12 lead changes and saw the scores tied on ten occasions.

Bjelica led the winners with 12 points. Tibor Pleiss and Dirk Nowitzki each had 15 for the co-hosts.

Italy avoided a major upset as they finished on a 12-2 run to oust Iceland 70-64.

EA7 Milano’s Alessandro Gentile led the Italians with 21 points as they claimed their first win of Eurobasket 2015.

Still smarting from defeat to Serbia on day one, Spain were all business as they thrashed Turkey 104-77.

Led by Pau Gasol’s 21 points, Spain jumped in the driver’s seat right from the start and pulled away decisively on the back of a 20-6 burst midway through the second quarter.

Six Spain players scored in double figures as they got a win at the second time of asking.

Group C

FYR of Macedonia secured their first win in Zagreb after they got the better of the Netherlands 78-71.

After a slow start, the Macedonians found their rhythm in the second period and the Dutch now not only picked up an important victory but they did so by a wider margin than Netherlands’ 73-72 win over Georgia. That could prove decisive should Macedonia, the Dutch and Georgia all have one win and end up in a three-way tie for the fourth spot in the group.

Both Macedonia and Netherlands are 1-1 after two games in Zagreb.

Slovenia got their campaign going at the second attempt after they beat winless Georgia 79-68 in the second game.

The Slovenians led from start to finish as Klemen Prepelic paced the victors with 21 points in a relatively routine win.

Greece took control of top spot in Group C as they came back from a double-digit deficit to beat co-hosts Croatia 72-70 in the final game in Zagreb.

Croatia led by 10 points at one point late on, but a 13-2 burst by the Greeks gave them the advantage with a minute to play. the hosts pushed for victory one more time but Krunoslav Simon’s potential game-winner missed its mark.

Vassilis Spanoulis was Greece’s hero, as he has done so many times before. He led the way with 16 points.

Group D

Belgium overpowered Estonia 84-55 in game one over in Riga as they ran out to a 27-9 first quarter lead and never looked back.

Matt Lojeski led four Lions players in double figures with 16 points.

Lithuania prevailed in the Baltic derby, as they beat co-hosts Latvia 68-49 in an intense, yet low scoring battle.

The Lithuanians were already beginning to seize control late in the third period when a strong defensive sequence from Lukas Lekavicius allowed Mindaugas Kuzminskas to grab a rebound and race away, drawing the foul from Janis Timma to halt the break.

The Latvian’s frustrations then got the better of him and a technical foul followed, which was punished by three Kuzminskas points from the line to open up the first double-digit lead at 49-39 going into the final 10 minutes.

Jonas Valanciunas led the victors with 15 points.

Czech Republic ended day two in Riga by outrunning Ukraine 78-64.

Fenerbahce’s Jan Vesely led the way for the Czechs with 19 points, as they improve to 2-0 while Ukraine fall to 0-2.

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