Portugal fought back from a 27-point deficit to beat Luxembourg 91-85 after a period of overtime in one of the most extraordinary comebacks in international basketball history.
Trailing 42-15 mid-way through the second quarter, Portugal looked down and out as Luxembourg, who upset Great Britain last year in the Eurobasket 2017 qualifiers looked dominant in all facets.
But gradually, Portugal chipped away at the deficit and with the hot scoring of Tomas Barroso, Portugal incredibly forced overtime and by then, Luxembourg were out of steam and the Portuguese got their first win of the Eurobasket 2021 pre-qualifiers.
Barroso led the way with 26 points for Portugal.
FYR of Macedonia end the first window of the pre-qualifiers as the only unbeaten team. They outclassed Switzerland 83-68 in Skopje.
The game was tied up at 40-40 early in the third until a 14-2 Macedonian run saw them take full control of the game, as they ended the quarter with a 66-51 lead, and there was no way back for the Swiss.
Richard Hendrix tallied 16 points for Macedonia.
Denmark needed overtime but they overcame Armenia 78-71 in Yerevan.
Gabriel Kundberg led the Danes with 21 points as they withstood Ryan Boatright’s 28-point haul for the Armenians to secure the victory.
The second lot of pre-qualifying window games begins in February.
GROUP A
FYROM 2-0
Slovak Rep 0-1
Switzerland 0-1
GROUP B
Armenia 1-1
Denmark 1-0
Albania 0-1
GROUP C
Portugal 1-1
Cyprus 1-0
Luxembourg 0-1
