By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Seven games were played out on the last day of February to close out the latest window of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers and two more teams succeeded in punching a ticket to the Second Round – Serbia and Latvia in Group A.
Starting with Group A, Serbia tipped off the action with a 71-63 win over Slovakia that pushed the winners to the Second Round while leaving the latter all but eliminated with 0-4.
Aleksa Avramovic led the way with 24 points while Nikola Jovic had 13 and Dusan Ristic 12 points. Vladimir Brodziansky scored 22 for the losing team.
Meanwhile, that outcome also meant that the victor of the duel between Latvia and Belgium would advance as well. And Latvia delivered in a 68-63 win with Rihards Lomazs scoring 16 and Kaspars Berzins 14 points. Retin Obasohan had 16 on Belgium’s side.
Two second-round entries could have also shown up in Group C which had quite an exciting night. Slovenia bounced back from a 21-point deficit but Finland still came out victorious with 83-79.
Mikael Jantunen scored 17 while Sasu Salin and Ilari Seppala had 13 points each. Klemen Prepelic scored 20 and Mikey Tobey 17 for Slovenia.
A comeback was also seen in the second matchup of the group. Croatia was ‘fighting for dear life’ and managed to force two overtimes, finally getting a 105-98 win and stopping the winning teams from advancing to the second round in this window. Not only that, but Croatia also secured the head-to-head advantage with a last-second putback dunk.
Goran Filipovic with 29 and Filip Kruslin with 21 points were the heroes of the night for Croatia. Jonas Jerebko scored 16 for Sweden while Simon Birgander had 12 points, 18 boards.
In the sole clash of Group B, Greece completed the sweep over Turkey with 76-67 behind Dimitrios Agravnais who scored 22 and Georgios Papagiannis who scored 21 points. They also added 11 and nine rebounds respectively. Shane Larkin scored 16 for Turkey while Melih Mahmutoglu had 15 points.
In Group D, Poland got its first win by overcoming Estonia with 70-68 and ruining the opponent’s chance to advance early. Germany and Israel also went at it as the former managed to turn the tables and get an 84-80 win.
Results and Standings (February 28th)
Group A
Slovakia – Serbia 63-71
Latvia – Belgium 68-63
| GAMES | STREAK | GAME POINTS | POINTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | P | W | L | % | Last 5 | For | Agt | +/- | FA | AA | |
| 1 | Serbia* | 4 | 3 | 1 | 75.0 |
|
316 | 299 | 17 | 79 | 74.8 | 7 |
| 2 | Latvia* | 4 | 3 | 1 | 75.0 |
|
316 | 303 | 13 | 79 | 75.8 | 7 |
| 3 | Belgium | 4 | 2 | 2 | 50.0 |
|
284 | 260 | 24 | 71 | 65 | 6 |
| 4 | Slovakia | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
|
257 | 311 | -54 | 64.2 | 77.8 | 4 |
Group B
Turkey – Greece 67-76
| GAMES | STREAK | GAME POINTS | POINTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | P | W | L | % | Last 5 | For | Agt | +/- | FA | AA | |
| 1 | Greece | 4 | 3 | 1 | 75.0 |
|
294 | 283 | 11 | 73.5 | 70.8 | 7 |
| 2 | Turkey | 4 | 1 | 3 | 25.0 |
|
292 | 299 | -7 | 73 | 74.8 | 5 |
| 3 | Belarus | 2 | 1 | 1 | 50.0 |
|
151 | 147 | 4 | 75.5 | 73.5 | 3 |
| 4 | Great Britain | 2 | 1 | 1 | 50.0 |
|
145 | 153 | -8 | 72.5 | 76.5 | 3 |
Group C
Slovenia – Finland 79-83
Sweden – Croatia 98-105
| GAMES | STREAK | GAME POINTS | POINTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | P | W | L | % | Last 5 | For | Agt | +/- | FA | AA | |
| 1 | Finland | 4 | 3 | 1 | 75.0 |
|
308 | 298 | 10 | 77 | 74.5 | 7 |
| 2 | Slovenia | 4 | 2 | 2 | 50.0 |
|
325 | 332 | -7 | 81.2 | 83 | 6 |
| 3 | Sweden | 4 | 2 | 2 | 50.0 |
|
329 | 325 | 4 | 82.2 | 81.2 | 6 |
| 4 | Croatia | 4 | 1 | 3 | 25.0 |
|
314 | 321 | -7 | 78.5 | 80.2 | 5 |
Group D
Poland – Estonia 70-68
Germany – Israel 84-80
| GAMES | STREAK | GAME POINTS | POINTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | P | W | L | % | Last 5 | For | Agt | +/- | FA | AA | |
| 1 | Germany | 4 | 3 | 1 | 75.0 |
|
293 | 285 | 8 | 73.2 | 71.2 | 7 |
| 2 | Israel | 4 | 2 | 2 | 50.0 |
|
295 | 285 | 10 | 73.8 | 71.2 | 6 |
| 3 | Estonia | 4 | 2 | 2 | 50.0 |
|
281 | 286 | -5 | 70.2 | 71.5 | 6 |
| 4 | Poland | 4 | 1 | 3 | 25.0 |
|
271 | 284 | -13 | 67.8 | 71 | 5 |
Group E
| GAMES | STREAK | GAME POINTS | POINTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | P | W | L | % | Last 5 | For | Agt | +/- | FA | AA | |
| 1 | France* | 4 | 4 | 0 | 100 |
|
314 | 233 | 81 | 78.5 | 58.2 | 8 |
| 2 | Montenegro | 4 | 2 | 2 | 50.0 |
|
317 | 297 | 20 | 79.2 | 74.2 | 6 |
| 3 | Hungary | 4 | 2 | 2 | 50.0 |
|
290 | 320 | -30 | 72.5 | 80 | 6 |
| 4 | Portugal | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
|
256 | 327 | -71 | 64 | 81.8 | 4 |
Group F
| GAMES | STREAK | GAME POINTS | POINTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | P | W | L | % | Last 5 | For | Agt | +/- | FA | AA | |
| 1 | Lithuania* | 4 | 4 | 0 | 100 |
|
318 | 268 | 50 | 79.5 | 67 | 8 |
| 2 | BIH | 4 | 2 | 2 | 50.0 |
|
315 | 320 | -5 | 78.8 | 80 | 6 |
| 3 | Bulgaria | 4 | 1 | 3 | 25.0 |
|
303 | 327 | -24 | 75.8 | 81.8 | 5 |
| 4 | Czech Republic | 4 | 1 | 3 | 25.0 |
|
309 | 330 | -21 | 77.2 | 82.5 | 5 |
Group G
| GAMES | STREAK | GAME POINTS | POINTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | P | W | L | % | Last 5 | For | Agt | +/- | FA | AA | |
| 1 | Georgia* | 4 | 3 | 1 | 75.0 |
|
319 | 307 | 12 | 79.8 | 76.8 | 7 |
| 2 | Spain* | 3 | 3 | 0 | 100 |
|
271 | 200 | 71 | 90.3 | 66.7 | 6 |
| 3 | Ukraine | 3 | 1 | 2 | 33.3 |
|
235 | 237 | -2 | 78.3 | 79 | 4 |
| 4 | North Macedonia | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
|
261 | 342 | -81 | 65.2 | 85.5 | 4 |
Group H
| GAMES | STREAK | GAME POINTS | POINTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | P | W | L | % | Last 5 | For | Agt | +/- | FA | AA | |
| 1 | Russia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 100 |
|
261 | 212 | 49 | 87 | 70.7 | 6 |
| 2 | Italy | 4 | 2 | 2 | 50.0 |
|
353 | 359 | -6 | 88.2 | 89.8 | 6 |
| 3 | Iceland | 4 | 2 | 2 | 50.0 |
|
338 | 366 | -28 | 84.5 | 91.5 | 6 |
| 4 | Netherlands | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
|
219 | 234 | -15 | 73 | 78 | 3 |