FYR - Macedonia/Germany
Game Summary
Turning point: In the 26th minutes Jan-Hendrik Jagla hit an open three to cut the margin to one, 47-46, only to see his team suffer a 20-4 run which decided the game. Late in the third and early in the fourth Germany committed no less than six turnovers in a row, all of them live balls that pushed F.Y.R.O.M. far beyond reach.
Hero: Vrbica Stefanov of F.Y.R. of Macedonia saved his best performance for the most important game, and won't rest until he helps his team make more history. He finished a huge game with 25 points on 73% shooting from the field and five steals - the second best individual high in the entire tournament. Stefanov scored ten points already in the first quarter and added eight in the third to bring his team 40 minutes from the quarter-finals.
Stats: F.Y.R.O.M. wrote 14 steals on the night against only four of Germany. Stefanov himself had more than the entire German team. Those extra possessions and easy fast break points made the difference.
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A big second half run enabled F.Y.R. of Macedonia to write their first win in the Qualifying Round 86-75 over Germany on the second day of action in Group E in Bydgoszcz.
F.Y.R.O.M. now stand on a 1-3 record, tied with Germany, as both teams still hold a chance to make it to the Quarter-Finals.
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| Vrbica Stefanov is one of the oldest players in the tournament and one of the most effective, with 25 points on Sunday. |
"He's probably the best player in his age right now in Europe," said Germany's Coach Dirk Bauermann on Vrbica Stefanov who led F.Y.R.O.M. to the big win.
The veteran point guard scored 25 points on 73% shooting from the field and added five steals, which are the second best individual highs in the tournament thus far.
Jeremiah Massey added 16 while Pero Antic and Dime Tasovski had 13 each.
Tasovski had five steals too and hit three times from distance, to write his tournament high right in the key game for his team.
Lucca Staiger had 14 points for Germany, including four downtown arrows, Patrick Femerling added 13, Tim Ohlbrecht added 13 with two blocks and Demond Greene scored ten.
"I think our young players played well today yet some of the veterans were struggling a bit," admitted Bauermann.
It was a 20-4 run late in the third and early in the fourth that pushed F.Y.R.O.M. from a one point lead to a 67-50 margin in the 31st minute.
Germany committed no less than six live ball turnovers in a row to allow that run and see the game slip from their hands.
"We played better defense for 20-25 minutes and when we started to shoot good as well we opened a gap to decide the game," commented Coach Jovica Arsic.
F.Y.R.O.M. scored only a single bucket inside the arc the entire first quarter but had four three-pointers to rely on and hold an 18-14 margin after ten minutes, behind ten early points by Vrbica Stefanov.
Lucca Staiger came off the bench and with three downtown hits in three minutes to put Germany on top, 28-26.
Femerling's shot jumped on the rim before going in and in the next play he forced a turnover as the teams continued to go neck-to-neck.
Gecevski attacked the rim with efficiency and created a headache for Coach Bauermann but his team still couldn't gather enough points for a run.
Once again Femerling showed his activity and was the first of his team to go to the free throw line after almost 18 minutes in the game.
His nine first half points and no less than seven three-pointers on 50% shooting made it a 36-36 tie at the break.
F.Y.R.O.M. earned their biggest lead, 47-40 with a big dunk by Massey but Staiger was still on fire and hit again from distance only to see Jagla follow him and cut the margin to one.
A time out called by Coach Arsic changed things in favor of his team.
Two steals in a row by F.Y.R.O.M. capped by a buzzer beater catch and shoot by Pero Antic set the margin on 12 at the end of the third quarter, 62-50 behind a 15-4 run in which four players scored.
If Germany had any plans to come back they were shattered quickly inside the fourth with three additional turnovers, which allowed F.Y.R.O.M. to push it to a 17 point lead, and decide the night.
"We were paralyzed a bit and wanted maybe a little too much and that probably created that series of turnovers," explained Bauermann.
"We had a tough loss two days ago but just like it happened with our tough loss to Greece and then the win over Israel we recovered quickly," analyzed Tasovski.
"Now we need to beat Russia and make it to the Quarter-Finals."
Germany will take on Croatia on the last day of the group while today's winners will fight against Russia.
Russia/Greece
Game Summary
Turning Point: With the game tied at 48-48, Sergey Monya nailed the first of three three-pointers to give Russia a 57-48 lead, which would grow to 10 points before Russia pulled within two late.
Hero: Monya. His big shots gave Russia just enough push to grab a lead and then he made a free throw with 20 seconds left to make it so that Greece needed a trey to tie, which they could not hit.
Stats: 48 and 42-42. Russia shot 48 percent from long range while grabbing 42 rebounds to Greece's 42 rebounds.
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Kelly McCarty and Sergey Monya combined for 33 points as reigning champions Russia took a giant step towards the EuroBasket 2009 quarter-finals by holding off Greece 68-65 in the Qualifying Round Group E.
Monya nailed three big three-pointers and 10 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter and it proved enough as David Blatt's Russians improved to 2-2 in the group while Greece dropped their first game of the tournament to fall to 3-1.
"I think that we controlled the game and we deserved to win the game tonight. There is really nobody younger and more inexperienced than us. And to beat Croatia and Greece in three days and the way we did is admirable," said Blatt, whose team shot 10 of 21 (48 percent) from long range.
Blatt also said his team likely took advantage of having a bigger sense of urgency than Greece, who had already gained a spot in the quarters before the game.
"We had more to gain by this game than Greece and that may have had a difference in this game in the first half. Players are human beings. And I think Greece probably let down a little. And we jumped on it hard."
McCarty scored a game-high 17 points while also grabbing nine rebounds and not committing a turnover in 38 minutes of action. Timofey Mozgov added 10 points, six rebounds and three blocks.
"Defense, defense, defense. We played great today in that sense. Greece is the best offensive team here and we held them down to their tournament low and it says a lot about our game tonight," said McCarty.
Greece were led by 13 points from Sofoklis Schortsanitis while Vasileios Spanoulis and Ioannis Bourousis both had 12 points and Antonios Fotsis chipped in 10 points in a losing effort.
"They took many offensive rebounds (15 for Russia) and that made it tougher for us. The more they took the more nervous we got and we didn't always react as we should have," said Nikos Zisis, who was held to three points.
"Mozgov is a big force in the paint and he changed a lot of shots we took around the rim and that made a big difference"
Blatt's men started very strong on defense, holding Greece to just 3 of 14 shooting in the first nine minutes of the game as Russia began building a lead thanks to two three-pointers by Vitalii Fridzon.
The Russian cushion grew to 11 points on Andrey Vorontsevich's three-pointer to make it 21-10.
Spanoulis scored his first points to make it 21-12 after one period.
Greece scored the first two baskets of the second quarter and tried chipping away at the Russian lead - though the gap was still 10 points after Sergey Bkyov's triple with four minutes left in the half.
Jonas Kazlauskas's Greeks twice pulled within four points but Russia led 39-32 at the break.
The Russians missed their first 10 shots of the second half and watched Greece pull ahead 40-39 with an 8-0 run over the first seven minutes of the third quarter.
McCarty however stopped the drought with a jumper and then Aleksey Zozulin and McCarty knocked down back-to-back triples to keep Russia ahead 48-47 after three quarters.
Monya came up with three big three-pointers in the early stages of the final period to push Russia ahead 57-48. And Blatt watched his men take a 10-point lead at 63-53 with less than four minutes to play despite an unsportsmanlike foul against Anton Ponkrashov.
Greece refused to die and Fotsis's triple cut the margin to 63-61 before McCarty hit two foul shots. Ponkrashov added two more free throws before Georgios Printezis nailed a three-ball to make it 67-65 with 22 seconds left.
Monya answered with a foul shot two seconds later before Printezis missed a three in the waning seconds which would have knotted the game.
France/Croatia
Game Summary
Turning point: In the 28th minute it was still a two point game in favor of France, but then Croatia's Marko Banic fouled out and Nikola Prkacin followed with a technical. France used that to reach an 11 point lead, and despite Croatia managing to come closer several times, the lead never changed hands again and France remained the dominant force.
Hero: Parker was the main man once again, but not only for the 24 points, six rebounds and six assists but the way he spread it. Half of his points were scored in the third quarter when his team turned a Croatian lead to a ten point game in their favor. In the last quarter he focused on anything but scoring and dished no less than five of his six assists in addition to three of his rebounds.
Stats: Croatia enjoyed a good shooting night with seven three-pointers on 54% shooting, but saw France better them with 12 long distance arrows. When a team like France shoot like that from distance, it's close to impossible to beat them.
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After the second day of games in Group E in Bydgoszcz there's only one team perfect and that is France following an 87-79 victory over Croatia.
The French climbed to a 4-0 record, but still must beat Greece on the last day to secure the top spot.
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| Nicolas Batum had 18 points to help keep France perfect. |
There were two different halves to this game.
In the first Croatia played their best basketball so far in the championship, and reached a nine point lead behind great shooting led by Marko Popovic.
The sequel showed a tougher French defense and a big performance by Tony Parker who took over the game, and led his team-mates to a rare performance of eight three pointers on 66.6% shooting.
"At half time we decided to change our gameplan," said winning Coach Vincent Collet.
"We didn't play well in the first half and the fact we were down by just five made us happy.
"We knew that if we step up on defense we can come back and that's what we did."
After Croatia was the dominating force in the first half, France wrote two runs to put them on top.
They used a technical foul on Nikola Prkacin, who fouled out as a result, to open the gap Croatia never managed to beat.
Parker led his team with 24 points, six assists and six rebounds but spread them in a perfect way.
Half of his points came in the third quarter, just when France took over the lead, while five assists and three rebounds joined the stat line in the closing quarter.
Nicholas Batum followed behind with 18 points, half of them from distance, five boards and two blocks.
Boris Diaw added 15 behind four long distance balls in addition to six assists and four rebounds.
Florent Pietrus added 14.
Croatia enjoyed 30 points by Popovic - the second best scoring performance in the competition so far - who spread his points almost equally between the first and the second halves.
He actually started his scoring drive only with the last basket of the first quarter and scored all of his points from either the charity stripe or beyond the arc.
Roko-Leni Ukic added 11 and Marko Banic had ten.
"The first 20 minutes was maybe our best (we played) in this tournament, but we need to play like that the whole game," said Coach Jasmin Repesa of Croatia.
Already in the first quarter France collected three triples.
Diaw started with an air-ball but added two hits from distance down the stretch of the first quarter, and Parker showed his skills with an off-dribble shot.
Croatia at the other end attacked the rim time and time both with the guards and inside players.
Ukic and Planinic drove to the rim while Banic and Prkacin posted up to bring their team to the last possession of the quarter down by a point, 19-18.
Popovic beat the buzzer to give his team the first points behind the arc but kept that momentum into the second quarter.
Kus and Popovic added two more three-pointers and a minute inside the second quarter it was already a 29-20 Croatian lead after an 11-1 run.
Balls were jumping on the rim and out for the French side, while Popovic remained hot reaching 16 points before the break, and his team up by seven, 46-39.
Diaw hit two from the line and saw Batum block a Planinic attempt to beat the clock, as the teams separated by five.
"We missed many free throws in the first half and if we had shot better we could have held a ten point lead at the break," referred Coach Repesa to the seven misses his team committed in the first 20 minutes.
"What mostly concerns me is that our mental strength was very, very bad.
"Once things didn't work for us we lost control of the game," he added.
Just inside the second half France was back on top after Pietrus and Parker led a 10-2 run.
Yannick Bokolo, who did a great job limiting Popovic for some minutes in the third, recorded a big block on Ukic which kept France on top, but the following play got Croatia in trouble.
Banic fouled out and Prkacin's protest sentenced him to the same destiny limiting Repesa's options on the bigs.
Parker hurt Croatia with a three-pointer, Pietrus added some of his own and another 12-1 French run wrote a 63-52 difference late in the third.
The French defense continued to make it tough for the Croats until Popovic woke up with five points in a row and forced a time out by Coach Collet up by only five, 70-65.
Mistakes on both ends of the floor allowed Croatia to enter the last four minutes down 73-69, but a three point by Bokolo and a fast break lay up by Batum pushed it to nine once more.
Croatia cut it down once more to four inside the last minute before Diaw sank the decisive three ball that told the story of the game.
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