In a thrilling game between the two best teams of Group F, Slovenia beat Turkey in the last seconds and will face Croatia in the quarter finals while Turkey will face Greece in an all-times classic.
Both teams wanted to win the game in order to avoid Greece, or to face Croatia instead of Greece, but Slovenians were more decisive and took an early lead, 7-2. Turkey tied the game at 12-12. That was it for them though, as Nachbar led Slovenia to a 10-0 run, 22-12. Same picture in the second quarter as well as Slovenia further increased their lead, 37-18. Turkey regrouped and Ilyasova led his team to a 14-2 run, 39-32.
With the help of Turkoglu who did not show much up to that point, Turkey regained the lead, 48-47. Lakovic took the game personally and with two back-to-back threepointers made the score 57-52 for Slovenia. Although Slovenia took an eight points lead, 60-52, at the beginning of the last quarter, but the Turks again vut the difference to its minimum level, 61-60.
Slovenia again pulled away 66-60 but Turkey had the answer again and 10" from the end they made the score 69-67 but Atsur missed the wide-open threepointer in the last seconds and Slovenia win the match.
SLOVENIA 69-67 TURKEY
Slovenia: Slokar 3, Lakovic 12, S.Udrih 12, Brezec 7, Klobucar, Nachbar 16, Jagodnik 11, Golemac 2, E. Lorbek 6
Turkey: Yarangume, Guler 3, Atsur, Onan 7, Ilyasova 16, Erden 7, Tunceri 2, Savas, Asik 10, Arslan 10, Turkoglu 12
Game quotes:
B. Nachbar: "This is a very big win for us. It was an extremely tough game but to beat a team that had not lost in the tournament is a great result for us it's more important to go into the elimination round on the back of a win. We had three players out today but this team will keep on fighting and keep on winning, even if we have only five players left. In two days, we will show up ready to play against Croatia."
B. Tanjevic (Turkey coach): "I'm generally very satisfied with the team. We had a shot to win the game. Sometimes it goes in, other times it doesn't. Now we will face Greece, a team that has a lot of experience in Championships. But then again, we could have faced Croatia – a side that has 10 or 11 quality players. I believe that my team can continue to play well. The important thing is to recover our energy."
Y. Zdovs (Slovenia coach): "The reason why we won was rebounding, but we have no time to enjoy this win because my players are already focused on our next game."
