Slovenia and Croatia on the brink of elimination

Slovenia and Croatia suffered painful defeats on Monday night and their qualification to the World Cup now is in serious jeopardy.

The 2017 European champions were defeated by Turkey at home (77-86) and now are in a vulnerable position. They have to remain unbeaten in the next four games in order to retain their chances to advance to the World Cup.

Furkan Korkmaz and Scottie Wilbekin combined for 46 points for the Turks, while Cedi Osman made a double double, with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

On the other hand, Anthony Randolph had 24 points and 12 boards for Slovenia, who suffered their fifth consecutive loss in the European Qualifiers.

A 25-16 run in the fourth quarter let Poland beat Croatia at home (79-74) and climb to the third place in the standings.

On the other hand, the Croatians, who suffered their second straight loss in the Qualifiers,  are now close to being eliminated (3-5 record).

Adam Hrycaniuk scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the winners, with Mateusz Ponitka having 12 points, four assists and four rebounds.

On the other hand, Bojan Bogdanovic contributed 22 points and five assists for the losing squad, with Dario Saric adding 17 points, seven boards and four assists.

In the other matches, Luigi Datome scored 18 points and helped Italy defeat Hungary on the road (63-69). For their part, Montenegro prevailed over Ukraine (90-84) and remained alive in the qualification race (4-4 record).

Here are the results:

Group I

Spain (7-1) vs Latvia (5-3) 85-82

Montenegro (4-4) vs Ukraine (4-4) 90-84

Slovenia (2-6) vs Turkey (6-2) 77-86

Group J

Hungary (4-4) vs Italy (6-2) 63-69

Lithuania (8-0) vs Netherlands (3-5) 95-93

Poland (4-4) vs Croatia (3-5) 79-74