EuroBasket 2013: Slovenia, Croatia grab seats in QFs
With one day remaining in Round 2 of EuroBasket 2013, five of eight spots in the quarterfinals are now firm. On Friday, Lithuania, France and Serbia picked up their advancement papers, with Ukraine and Latvia set to battle for the fourth and final spot. The Ukrainians will square off against 3-1 Lithuania, while Latvia will meet 0-4 Belgium. On Saturday, a huge crowd of 8,000 passed through the turnstiles at Stozice Arena in Ljubljana, Slovenia to watch Croatia hand Italy their second consecutive loss in Round 2 and earn a spot in the quarterfinals. Also, host club Slovenia thrilled an estimated 10,000 friendlies by holding off a fourth-quarter rally by Greece to pick up their third Round 3 victory, 73:65, and a seat in the next stage of competition. In the middle contest, Spain took out a bit of frustration on Finland after their shocking 79:75 loss to Greece on Thursday, with an 82:56 win that improves Spain’s Round 2 record to 2-2.
Monday’s Group F Round 2 finales will include Slovenia against Finland, Croatia against Greece, and the match of the day will come in between those when Italy and Spain square off in would could be a battle for a playoff spot. The reality is that Finland has little chance of running with Slovenia, and Greece will have their hands full with Croatia, so both Spain and Italy will most likely advance, but just as Latvia has the advantage on paper in Group E, the norm during EuroBasket 2013, is that there is no norm and that they don’t play the games on paper, as anything can happen when 10 guys step inside the lines on the hardwood…
Group F
Croatia – Italy, 76:68
The Croatians just keep getting stronger as the EuroBasket 2013 competition rolls on and on Saturday the Italian contingent found out the hard way just how strong they’ve gotten when they took a 76:68 loss on the chin. With the win Croatia locked down a place in the quarterfinals, with the loss Italy is left to fight for advancement on the final day of Round 2 after going 5-0 in Round 1.
The Italians got the early advantage, taking a 17:8 lead after running off seven unanswered mid-way through the first 10. They outscored Croatia 10:2 over the last five minutes of the quarter.
Dontaye Draper sank a lay-up for Croatia 30 seconds into the second quarter and connected on the single to complete a three-point play, but Italy countered with seven straight to extend their lead to 13, 24:11. Bojan Bogdanovic tallied seven straight of his own in just over a minute to help the Croatians pull to within six, 28:22 with four minutes to play in the half. A Luka Zoric lay-up on the Croatian end of the court with one second on the clock before the halftime break cut the margin to five, 36:31.
Croatian head coach Jasmin Repesa must have held quite the motivational talk during the intermission because his squad came out in the third quarter fired up, not only did they knot the score at 38 within 89 seconds, they also built a six-point lead, 49:43, at the five minute mark. By the end of the quarter they were up 12, 57:45, at the buzzer.
Mid-way through the final 10 Italy ran off seven straight, five from Luigi Datome, to cut the gap to eight, 64:56. With four minutes to play, Datome drove the lane, got the deuce and was fouled by Draper. After sinking the single, the Italians had cut the deficit to five, 67:62. Bogdanovic knocked down a triple for Croatia, Datome hit a jumper for Italy and Pietro Aradori dropped a pair of singles for the Italians to pull them to their closest margin in a quarter and a half, 70:66, with 2:44 to play. Croatia held off the charge by going four of four from the charity stripe down the stretch, while the well ran dry for the Italians as they missed a dunk, two lay-ups and a jumper in the final two minutes.
Bogdanovic led the way for Croatia with 18, Krunoslav Simon added 14 points, and 6 rebounds in just 22 minutes, Roko Ukic added 13, and Draper contributed 12. Datome was game-high for Italy with 24 points and 7 rebounds, and Aradori dropped 12.
Spain – Finland, 82:56
Spain snapped a two-game losing streak with a 26-point win over Finland, 82:56. The win evens Spain’s Round 2 record to 2-2, while dropping Finland to 0-4. Spain will wrap up the round on Monday against Italy, also at 2-2.
Other than the two times Finland held a small advantage early on, Spain was in control for the duration. They got out to an 18:15 lead after the first, and then put nine on the advantage in the second with a 24:15 quarter to head into the break up 42:30. The Fins held tight in the third, but still gave up a point to set up the final frame with the Spanish side up 57:44. They left no doubt as to what the outcome would be in the fourth, running away with a 25:12 tally in the final 10 to earn the 82:56 victory.
Jose Calderon was game-high with 23 for Spain. Petteri Koponen dropped in 17 for Finland.
Slovenia – Greece, 73:65
In front of another estimated crowd of 12,000 the host club from Slovenia punched their ticket to the quarterfinals with a 73:65 victory over Greece. The win keeps the Slovenians even with Croatia at the top of the group at 3-1. The loss drops Greece to 1-3 with their final contest being against Croatia on Monday.
The Slovenians got what they needed in the first 10, putting up 13 on the Greeks, 26:13, with the first 11 coming from Goran Dragic. They added three more in the second to take a 43:27 advantage into the dressing rooms at the break.
The second half opened with Slovenia going on a 10:3 run to build their margin to 23, 53:30, and shortly after they expanded it to 26, 62:36. Those would be the final points Slovenia would get in the third frame as Greece would run off 10 straight to close out scoring in the third 10, cutting their deficit to 16, 62:46.
Greece kept the momentum of their late run in the third through the better part of the fourth frame, chipping away at the margin and pulling to within six, 68:62, with two minutes to play. That was a close as they would come though, with the hosts pulling off the eight-point win, 73:65, and qualifying for the quarterfinals.
Dragic was game-high with 28 for Slovenia, while brother Zoran Dragic added 11. Vassilis Spanoulis led Greece with 21 points and 8 rebounds.
EuroBasket Group F
Round 2 Match List[matches league_id=36 group=F template=summary dateformat=”M. j, Y”]
Standings[standings league_id=36 group=F show_website=false template=nolink]