MINSK (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers) - Belarus are in celebration mode after boosting their chances of advancing to the Second Round of the World Cup Qualifiers with a 93-92 home triumph over Slovenia this past Monday.

One of the revelations of that game was Maksim Salash, a 21-year-old power forward who had 20 points and 10 rebounds.

He has spoken to FIBA.basketball.

What a game that was, Maksim! How did Belarus not lose their concentration after Slovenia went on a big run to take a 74-72 lead late in the third quarter?
We had a timeout and we just said, "Hey, we've got a chance to beat the European champions. Let's do everything we can."

What has this win done for your confidence as a team?
We had a lot of important games just to qualify for this. There were some difficult games last year in the Pre-Qualifiers but for sure, we didn't play teams like Spain and Slovenia so it's a big boost in confidence. We believe we can play with anybody, now.

"A LOT OF PEOPLE CAME AND WATCHED US BEAT SLOVENIA, SOME REALLY CRAZY STUFF GOING ON. EVERYONE WAS REALLY EXCITED AND STILL IS. THERE ARE STILL PEOPLE CONGRATULATING US. IT WAS AMAZING." SalashSalash

Belarus is not the first place people think of when it comes to basketball, and certainly not the men's national team.
A lot of people don't know about the Belarus national team. I played in Spain, in Poland, different countries and when you say Belarus to people, they're like, "Okay, where is it? What kind of country is it?". People don't know that much about our country and especially basketball. We have had some good players, though.

Belarus gave Spain a run for their money before falling, 84-82

A lot more people know about Belarus, now, after the win over Slovenia.
Oh yes, it's like a big surprise. Everybody is wondering, "Who are these guys?". I think people know a little bit more about us now after this.

Your team played well against Spain but lost, 84-82, yet then beat Slovenia. What has playing well in the February window done for Belorussian basketball?
They were two very big games and even though we lost the first one, you could see that people in the stands were happy and we even got congratulated, though we had lost that game. Then a lot of people came and watched us beat Slovenia, some really crazy stuff going on. Everyone was really excited and still is. There are still people congratulating us. It was amazing. In our country, women's basketball was better but now you can compare us. People used to go to the women's basketball more than the men's. Last year, I remember playing against Poland and there weren't as many people watching us as this year. More and more people are coming to watch us. I have never seen the arena as full as it was for those games.

What about your self-belief after getting big minutes in these World Cup Qualifiers? It is growing?
Oh for sure. I joined the national team last year, when I was 20. It was a really good experience, the time helped me a lot. We played really good teams and I got experience against great players in my position.

"I LIKE TO PLAY FOR THE NATIONAL TEAM ,TO BE WITH MY TEAMMATES, FRIENDS AND TO REPRESENT MY COUNTRY. IN FOOTBALL, THEY DO THIS ALL THE TIME AND NOW IT'S IN BASKETBALL." SalashSalash

Since you play for Tsmoki-Minsk and both February games were at home, you didn't have to log any additional miles for games. Even so, what was it like leaving the club to play in the international window?
Personally, I like it. If you're asking me if I would want to go and play for my national team if I were somewhere else, I would hopefully say yes. I like to play for the national team to be with my teammates, friends and to represent my country. In football, they do this all the time and now it's in basketball. For me, it's no problem.

How much of an advantage is it having the same coach from Tsmoki-Minsk (Aliaksandr Krutsikau) hold the national team reins, and also to have nine players from the club also in the Belarus side?
I was asked the same question in an interview before the two games and I said, "Yes. Not only with the same players and the same coach (is there an advantage), but the fact that we had more time than the other teams." The last game we had had before this was like a week and a half. We had so much time to prepare and had almost everybody. So it was like, our advantage.

Montenegro beat Belarus, 91-67, in Minsk on November 26 but now a Belarus road win doesn't seem to be out of the realm of possibility when you meet on June 28.
We just proved we can play with anybody and beat anybody. We'll have nothing to lose. We'll go there, play our best in our next two games and see what happens. We just have to worry about ourselves.

Belarus should be a different proposition for Montenegro in June

Now you have a chance to get to the next round.
We still have chances to advance but so much can happen before that. It's in the summer. It's difficult to say what will happen, there is so much time before then.

FIBA