Game Summary
Turning point: Germany led 57-54 but committed turnovers on six straight possessions and went nearly five minutes without a score to hand Croatia the momentum.
Hero: Ukic. The Croatian star continually broke down the German defense, getting to the lane and converting.
Stats: 12 of 26, 20 and 13. Germany made 12 of 26 three-pointers but shot themselves in the foot with 20 turnovers. Croatia grabbed 13 offensive rebounds.
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Roko-Leni Ukic scored 18 points as Croatia earned the last Quarter-Final berth from the Qualifying Round Group E by holding off Germany 70-68.
The Croatians had four players in double figures and took advantage of Germany making 20 turnovers - including six straight turnovers in the fourth quarter - as they secured fourth place in the group with a 2-3 record.
"Even though we didn't play great basketball, we showed character and we're going to the quarters," said Ukic.
"It was a tough game as both teams wanted to make the quarterfinals. At the end of the game we got a couple of stops and Kresimir Loncar hit a big three-pointer to give us confidence for the next couple of possessions."
Croatia coach Jasmin Repesa praised his team for keeping their nerves when they trailed 57-54 midway through the final quarter.
"We expected a tough game. When we were losing 57-54 we didn't lose our head and in the end we played some tough defense," said Repesa, whose team out-scored Germany 27-6 in points off turnovers and second chance points.
Croatia also received 11 points each from Marko Popovic and Zoran Planinic while Sandro Nicevic added 10 points.
Germany bow out of the tournament despite another spirited fight from Dirk Bauermann's young team.
Heiko Schaffartzik led the way with 18 points - on perfect 6 of 6 shooting - while Patrick Femerling scored 15 points and Jan Jagla had 11 points.
"It was just a bad ending to a great, wonderful summer. I thought that we would have deserved to win the game.
But they deserved to win the game because they made the big plays offensively and defensively," said Bauermann.
"I am very proud of this team. We gained a lot of respect with this young team. We very positively surprised a lot of people. Today we are extremely disappointed. We can be proud of what we achieved."
After Germany scored the first basket of the game, Croatia scored 10 straight and led 14-3 after five minutes. It was 16-7 when Schaffartzik and Jagla each hit two three-pointers in a four-possession stretch for a 19-18 German lead.
Croatia however were ahead 20-19 after one period.
Germany again struggled out of the blocks in the second quarter, committing three straight turnovers and not scoring a basket until Steffen Hamann's lay-up nearly four minutes into the period.
Croatia began pulling away again, opening a 37-27 advantage with a minute left in the half. Jagla nailed another triple and a layup at the buzzer to bring Germany within 37-32 at intermission.
In the third period, Croatia were held scoreless for nearly four minutes but Germany were only able to climb within 43-41. Lucca Staiger nailed a triple and then Hamann hit a driving layup just before the buzzer to give the Germans a 50-49 lead after three quarters.
Germany were able to push the cushion to three points after Staiger's triple to make it 57-54. But Bauermann's troops committed turnovers on six straight possessions.
Femerling's free throws ended the nearly five-minute drought and had Germany trailing just 61-59 with two minutes to play. But Loncar nailed a big triple to make it 64-59 and after Planinic pushed the gap to 67-62, Schaffartzik hit an impossible trey. But Demond Greene missed a triple with five seconds left which could have made it 69-68.
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Roko Leni Ukic (Croatia):
"It was a very hard game. We broke the game with a three-pointer in last minutes. I'm proud of my team because we didn't play good basketball but we showed character."
Jasmin Repesa (Croatia Coach):
"I like the German mentality because they never stop, they never quit. Our first goal was to reach the Quarter-Finals. Now we want to go to Turkey for the next championship. To reach this goal and others the way we played is not enough. I hope we will be better mentally in the next round."
Patrick Femerling (Germany):
"Congratulations to our opponents. We played great basketball. In basketball sometimes little things make difference, one three-pointer or a rebound here or there. And in this game it happened."
Dirk Bauermann (Germany Coach):
"First of all I would like to thank the Polish Basketball Federation, organisers and all the people from Poland. You guys were great. Everybody was extremely friendly. It was a bad ending of a wonderful summer. They deserved to win."
Game Summary
Turning point: It came down to the very last play of the night with eight seconds on the clock. 22 year old Nando De Colo against a very experienced and a great defender as Nikos Zisis, but a turn around shot sank inside the rim with ease and gave France the big win.
Hero: Alain Koffi and Ali Traore came off the bench to cover for a weak night by starting center Ronny Turiaf and combine 24 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and great defense.
Stats: Both teams were highly focused when marching to the charity stripe as France hit 18 out of 22 shots and Greece connected 19 in 23 attempts.
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Nando De Colo's turn around buzzer-beater bestowed upon France the top spot in Group E in Bydgoszcz behind a 71-69 victory over Greece.
This is the second game in the group today to be decided in the last second and in the exact same score after Russia beat F.Y.R.O.M. 71-69 as well.
France take a 5-0 record in the Qualifying Round to win first place in the group and will enter the Quarter-Finals with big energy.
For Greece this is their second loss in a row, and as a result they dropped to the third spot in the group with a 3-2 record.
Russia was the second team to enjoy the French win as they have climbed to finish the group in the second place after winning all three games in this round.
The 22-year-old De Colo was the MVP of the French league in 2008, when he earned respect as a late bloomer for his shooting and passing.
He entered the last two minutes of the game with no points but then scored six, including the clutch shot to win the game.
De Colo's shot arrived eight seconds after Vasilis Spanoulis hit a big three-pointer to tie the score.
"We wanted to win this game, but also use a chance to give some rest to our main players before the deciding final round," shared Coach Vincent Collet of France.
"We didn't want Tony Parker to play 38 minutes again, and when we saw we can play without him, Boris Diaw and Ronny Turiaf on the floor for long, we continued with that.
"I'm happy we managed to give them rest and win which were our two goals."
Parker played only 21 minutes, Diaw 19 and Turiaf 15.
Coach Collet had the pleasure to see his back up players step up against a strong opponent in Greece.
Alain Koffi scored 14 points, all of them in the first half, but showed his defensive presence throughout the entire game.
The 21 minutes were sufficient for Parker to reach 12 points while Yannick Bokolo and Ali Traore added ten each.
Vasilis Spanoulis scored 16 points including one of the biggest buckets of the championship, while Sofoklis Schortsanitis added 12.
Greece used the arc to take a quick 13-4 lead, but faced more difficulty to score close to the rim, enough for France to cut the margin and finish the first quarter behind by only three, 21-18.
Alain Koffi and Ali Traore challenged the Greek big guys and combined for 12 points to give France a 24-23 lead after 12:30.
Both French bigs collected two fouls, but the first to get in serious foul trouble was Schortsanitis with three after 14 minutes.
Koffi was on fire and after a big shot block added a mid-range jumper to extend the margin to seven and make it a 13-1 run.
Antoine Diot beat the shot clock with an off balance three, but saw Nick Calathes put a stop to almost six minutes without a field goal by Greece with a drive.
Greece seemed to have lost their sharpness and all their points came from the charity stripe while Koffi climbed to 14 first half points and France reached their maximum lead of nine, 41-32 before Bourousis set the half time score with a right hand hook.
France scored the first four points in the half, to take an 11 point lead, but went silent for three and a half minutes.
Greece scored their first field goal in the second half after more than five minutes but was already half way in an 8-0 run that put them back in the game, 48-44.
Ronny Turiaf and Efstratios Perperoglou picked up their fourth foul and hit the bench, before Spanoulis had his treat for the fans.
Inside the last minute of the quarter Greece didn't find the way to the rim and Spanoulis had the ball nearly at half court with the shot clock about to expire.
His big arc slowly made its way to the net for one of the most exciting shots of the tournament that also moved Greece a bit closer, 56-53 and capped the third quarter.
The squad of Coach Jonas Kazlauskas earned several open looks from the arc but missed time after time and entered the last 4:30 minutes down 63-56.
Before it was too late Spanoulis stepped up.
It started with a steal, continued with a three-pointer and when Antonios Fotsis fixed a missed shot Greece was up for the first time in the second half, 64-63 with 2:46 to play.
Coach Collet called a time out and France returned with four points in a row.
Free throw points were exchanged when once more Spanoulis decided it was time to take it on his shoulders.
"It's the second time in a row we lose a close game," commented Coach Kazlauskas.
"Sometimes it's not enough to be strong and play well, but you also need some luck."
With 21 ticks on the clock and his team down by three and took the heat and tied the game with an off-dribble three ball leaving France eight seconds to reply.
More than enough for the French guard.
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Game Summary
Turning point: Leading 66-63, Russia forced F.Y.R.O.M. into a 24 second violation turnover with 56 seconds left and then Anton Ponkrashov made two foul shots for a five-point lead. F.Y.R.O.M. did not get closer than one point the rest of the way.
Hero: Timofey Mozgov. The Russian big man collected 25 points and 11 rebounds while hitting 11 of 17 shots in the game.
Stats: Russia made 18 of 25 free throws including five of six in the final 33 seconds.
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Defending champions Russia are returning to the Quarter-Finals for the ninth consecutive time after beating F.Y.R. of Macedonia 71-69 in Qualifying Round Group E action for a spot in the final eight in Katowice.
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"We needed to look really far down deep in ourselves to win that ball game because it was looking pretty bleak. But in the end, we found it. And I am proud of what we have done and am looking forward to next stage,'' said Blatt, whose team out-rebounded F.Y.R.O.M. 42-32 including 16 offensive rebounds.
"Today was a very, very tough game. Everyone understood that we must win to reach the quarterfinals. (F.Y.R. of) Macedonia also showed very good basketball and it was hard to perform against their tough defense. But in the end we found a way," said Ponkrashov.
Russia could finish second in Group E if Greece lose later Tuesday against France in Bydgoszcz.
F.Y.R.O.M. had a valiant effort, paced by 19 points and 10 rebounds from Pero Antic and 16 points each from Vrbica Stefanov and Todor Gechevski. But Jovica Arsic's team will exit the tournament with a 1-4 record in the Qualifying Round group.
"We had a lot of problems stopping Mozgov on his offensive rebounds. We played tough for 40 minutes. But the better team is going to the quarter-finals," said Arsic.
"We did everything we could to win this game. We tried to play 40 minutes of defense. We didn't forget that we were playing against Russia, but it was great that we were in the game," said Stefanov, who will be retiring from the game.
"You won't see many more like him. I'm glad I don't have to coach any more against him," said Blatt of Stefanov.
F.Y.R.O.M. made just one of their first five shots but went ahead 5-4 on Stefanov's first three-ball. And it was tied at 8-8 after an Antic triple. Russia created three turnovers in four possessions to lead 14-10 after one period.
Jeremiah Massey's three-point play trimmed the margin to 16-14 before Russia went on a 14-7 run with Mozgov and Vorontsevich combining for 10 points to give Blatt's men a 30-21 advantage.
Stefanov and Antic both knocked down triples and F.Y.R.O.M. were within 33-29 at intermission.
Arsic's team received a spark off the bench from Damjan Stojanovski with a long jumper and three-pointer in a 13-5 start to the second half to give F.Y.R.O.M. a 42-38 lead.
Russia reeled F.Y.R.O.M. back in though back-to-back dunks by Sergey Monya and Vorontsevic could not help the teams from being knotted at 49-49 after three quarters.
After Russia had opened a 53-49 gap, Gechevski nailed a three-pointer and converted a three-point play in a single time down the court as Vorontsevich's foul after the triple had given the ball back to F.Y.R.O.M., who opened a 57-53 margin.
Sergey Bykov nailed a three-pointer with the shot clock winding down and Mozgov came up with a follow dunk as Russia remained three points ahead.
Already up 66-63, Russia forced a 24 second violation and Ponkrashov's foul shots opened a five-point gap with 33 seconds left. Antic's three-point play would bring F.Y.R. of Macedonia to within 69-68, but Vitalii Fridzon made two free throws with 11.5 seconds left before Dimitar Mirakovski made just one of two with 7.6 seconds to play and missed a possible game-tying layup at the buzzer.
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Vrbica Stefanov (F.Y.R.O.M.):
"We played a great game. I believe we played great defense. If we had played overtime it would have been great. If we had won it that would have be greater, but I'm still proud of us."
Anton Ponkrashov (Russia):
"Maybe at the beginning of the tournament few people believed in our team, but we made a second step and now we are in the Quarter-Finals. F.Y.R.O.M. played a very good game. Today we missed a lot of three-point shots. But we compensated that with defense."
Jovica Arsic (F.Y.R.O.M. Coach):
"I would like to thank all our fans and friends that supported us during this tournament. We started with Samardzic playing much better on defense but without him we had more options in offense. It's a pity we lost Gacevski in the end. Riste Stefanov and Stojanovski didn't feel good so we had huge problems."
David Blatt (Russia Coach):
"F.Y.R.O.M. deserve a lot of credit. They played a great game. When you make three-pointers it changes a game a lot. F.Y.R.O.M. took advantage of that. But in the end we proved ourselves better. It was a tough game against a very tough team. It was a tricky game for both of us. I'm proud of my team. Vrbica did I hear that you're retiring? I take my hat off to you and wish you all the best for your future."
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