EuroBasket 2013: Ukraine stops Germany to go 3-0

EuroBasket 2013

Day 3 of EuroBasket 2013 was split into two days with Groups A and B playing Friday and Groups C and D to play on Saturday. Coming into Friday’s competition, there were three clubs, Ukraine, Serbia, and Latvia, that were undefeated. By the end of the day, the sole holder of a 3-0 record was the Ukrainians in Group A after their 88:83 win over Germany. Latvia lost their first match of the competition at the hands of Lithuania, 67:59, and Serbia fell to the F.Y.R. of Macedonia, 89:75. Four teams in Group C and D are looking to keep their unblemished records intact. In Group C host club Slovenia will square off against Georgia in the nightcap. Group D has three teams that are currently undefeated, but only one team will come out of the Italy and Finland match up at 3-0. The final club that hasn’t lost as of yet is Greece, who will play Turkey in the late game in Koper.

Group A
Ukraine – Germany, 88:83
The Ukrainians all but locked up a spot in the second round with an 88:83 win over Germany, improving their record to 3-0. Germany drops to 1-2 and in a tie for fourth place, just out of the advancement spots. Germany will play Great Britain on Sunday, while Ukraine will meet their biggest test in a contest against the tough squad from France.

Germany went on an early 10:0 run, but it was quickly countered by the Ukrainians, closing out the scoring in the frame with Germany up 16:15. The contest shifted towards Ukraine in the second when they went on a 12:3 run to end the half, up 39:30. In the third Ukraine extended their lead by as many as 16 with just under three minutes to play, but Germany outscored them 11:2 through the end of the frame to pull to within seven, 64:57, heading into the fourth quarter. The Germans bridged the gap and took the lead, 74:73, with 3:26 to play. Ukraine got the lead back with a three-ball, then stretch the advantage to six, 82:76, with just over a minute to play. Germany was able to get to within three in the final minute, but the Ukrainians made the majority of their free throws and held off the challenge to remain undefeated and at the top of the group.

Sergii Gladyr was game-high with 25 for Ukraine, and Heiko Schaffartzik contributed a 22P/11A double-double for Germany.

Belgium – Great Britain, 76:71
Belgium held off down the stretch to take a big win from Great Britain, 76:71. The win keeps Belgium in the hunt for advancement to the second round, while GB must win their last two games to have a shot at moving on.

After a close first quarter, Great Britain put up nine on Belgium during a 19:10 second quarter, giving GB a 38:33 advantage at the break. Belgium took the lead back early in the third, but it took a split pair of singles with seven seconds left in the quarter for Belgium to knot the score at 55 heading into the final 10 minutes of play. For the first five minutes of the last frame the clubs exchanged baskets and kept the score close or tied. Belgium broke away with four straight that turned into a 10:2 run giving them a 74:66 lead with 40 seconds to play. Great Britain closed the gap slightly outscoring Belgium 5:2 in the close seconds, but it wasn’t enough and Belgium improved to 2-1, while GB fell to 1-2 on the competition.

Belgium got 15 from Sacha Massot, while Great Britain was lead by 19 points and 9 rebounds from Daniel Clark.

France – Israel, 82:63
France improved to 2-1, while Israel fell further behind the group at 0-3, with an 82:63 French victory.

France opened the contest getting up 20:14 in the first, and then adding three to the lead in the second to head into the intermission up 38:29. Over the first three minutes of the third quarter the Frenchmen went on a 12:2 run that extended their lead to 19, and by the end of the third 10 they were up 22, 65:43. Israel took three back from the EuroBasket 2011 runners-up in the final frame, but it wasn’t nearly enough and France had another big win in the books.

Alexis Ajinca was team-high for France with 13, with Tony Parker adding 12. Omri Casspi and Lior Eliyahu were game-high with 14 for Israel.

EuroBasket Group A

Round 1 Match List[matches league_id=35 group=A template=summary dateformat=”M. j, Y”]

Standings[standings league_id=35 group=A show_website=false template=nolink]

Group B
Bosnia and Herzegovina – Montenegro, 76:70
Bosnia and Herzegovina got their first win of the EuroBasket 2013 competition with a 76:70 come-from-behind win over Montenegro. Both clubs come out of the contest with 1-2 records and are going to have to win out in their final two games of Round 1 to have any chance of moving to Round 2. Next up for BIH will be FYR of Macedonia, while Montenegro will face a tough Lithuanian squad.

Montenegro got the early lead, winning the first frame 17:13. BIH got to within a point with three minutes to play in the first half, but Montenegro ended up extending the lead to three, 37:34, heading into the second half. Bosnia and Herzegovina fell further behind in the third with Montenegro outscoring them 22:15 in the third, to take a 10-point lead into the final frame.

BIH took the lead in the fourth with a 15:4 run that put them up 64:63 with just under five minutes to play. The clubs exchanged baskets, but Montenegro’s shooters came up empty while BIH was able to dropped a couple of jumpers and were four of four from the line down the stretch.

Mizra Teletovic led Bosnia and Herzegovina with an 18P/11R double-double. Bojan Dubljevic was team-high for Montenegro with 16.

Lithuania – Latvia, 67:59
Lithuania knocked Latvia from the ranks of the unbeatens on Friday with a 67:59 victory in front of a crowd estimated to be 3,000 in Jesenice. The win evens the clubs at 2-1, along with Serbia, at the top of Group B. Lithuania will next play Montenegro on Sunday and Latvia will face Serbia.

Latvia got a small early advantage in the first, but Lithuania took over late in the frame and built a 22:17 lead capped off with a deuce at the buzzer. In the second the Lithuanian lead grew to 13, but ended at eight as the Baltic neighbors headed to the dressing rooms for the mid-game break, 39:31. Latvia knotted the score at 45 with four minutes to play in the third, but Lithuania ran off seven unanswered to close out the period up seven, 52:45. Latvia was able to pull to within four with 4:19 left in the game, only to let the games slip away with poor shooting down the stretch. Lithuania was four of four from the line in the final minute and only missed two shots in the last three minutes, one of which was put in on an offensive rebound.

Jonas Valanciunas led the way for Lithuania with an 11P/10R double-double. Rihards Kuksiks dropped in 13 points for Latvia.

FYR of Macedonia – Serbia, 89:75
FYR of Macedonia chopped down another unbeaten team on Friday with a big 89:75 victory over Serbia. The 14-point deficit doesn’t sound quite a impressive when added to the fact that Serbia outscored them 30:19 in the final 10 minutes.

The Macedonians built a big early lead, getting up 12 at the end of the first, including a triple at the buzzer by Vlado Illievski. Serbia continued to fall behind, ending up down 16, 48:32, at the end of the first half. The third frame gave FYR of Macedonia an opportunity to pull away even further, padding their lead to 25, 70:45, as they headed into the final frame. Serbia knocked down the first seven of the quarter to cut their deficit to 18. With four minutes to play the Serbians had sliced the lead to 11, 79:68, but that’s as close as they’d get, with FYR of Macedonia outscoring them 10:7 in the final minutes.

The win was the first for FYR of Macedonia, giving them a 1-2 record, while Serbia sits at the top of the Group.

Bo McCalebb was game-high with 27 points for FYR of Macedonia, while Danilo Andjusic scored 19 for Serbia.

EuroBasket Group B

Round 1 Match List[matches league_id=35 group=B template=summary dateformat=”M. j, Y”]

Standings[standings league_id=35 group=B show_website=false template=nolink]

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