Our second Eurobasket round-up goes through the groups again, and we go from Group A to Group B. (We will give you a round-up of the thriller between Serbia vs Montenegro).
Group B
Germany got off to a winning start in their quest to return to Eurobasket after their second round exit in 2011 as they thrashed Luxembourg 101-53.
The Germans, without Dirk Nowitzki or Chris Kaman were relentless against the poor Luxembourg team who lost the fourth quarter 31-4 after trailing 70-49 after three.
Robin Benzing led a balanced German attack with 17 points as three players got 12 points, including Maik Zirbes who collected eight rebounds as well.
Christopher Jones led all scorers for Luxembourg with 19 points supported by 12 from Tom Schumacher, but there was no damage done to trouble Germany.
“Luxembourg played well in the first half,” admitted Benzing afterwards. “We had some problems to find our game, something we did way better in the second half. Then we could increase our lead and win the game.”
Germany out-rebounded mis-matched Luxembourg 51-27.
Azerbaijan are becoming the early story of the Eurobasket qualifiers after they beat Bulgaria 88-73 in Baku to go 2-0.
30 points and seven rebounds from Charles Davis was enough to seal the win as Azerbaijan look to make a surprise appearance in Slovenia next September.
Bulgaria, who were led by Bozhidar Avramov’s 16 points were outclassed by the hosts as they fell behind 53-31 at half-time and despite finishing strong, couldn’t make up the deficit.
Other scores…
Group A
Slovak Republic 75-81 Iceland
Serbia 71-73 Montenegro
Israel 86-88 Estonia
Group C
Austria 57-61 Ukraine
Croatia 93-38 Cyprus
Group D
Georgia 80-64 Romania
Netherlands 89-107 Bosnia & Herzegovina
Group E
Finland 112-77 Albania
Switzerland 66-80 Poland
Group F
Turkey 77-74 Belarus
Czech Republic 53-63 Italy
