MINSK (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers) - Belarus gave Group A favorites Spain a tough time at the Minsk Sports Palace, with the Sergio Scariolo-coached visitors needing to work harder than expected for a 84-82 road victory on Friday.

Turning point: The hosts lit a fire under Spain with an 11-0 run in the final three minutes of the game to make it an 83-82 ball game with 8 seconds on the clock after Aliaksandr Kudrautsau knocked down a pair of free-throws. However, Quino Colom drew an unsportsmanlike foul on the next possession for Spain and extinguished the possibility of an upset.

Game hero: Despite struggling from the field, Quino Colom was still the player who made Spain tick in Belarus. The point guard finished the evening with a team-high 17 points after going 9-of-11 from the stripe, but made just 3-of-11 field goals.

Stats don't lie: Belarus fought like lions on the glass, outrebounding Spain 44-32 in the game. They grabbed 10 more offensive rebounds than the visitors, but it ultimately was not enough to make up for their 38.8 percent shooting from the field.

Bottom line: Ranked second in the FIBA World Rankings presented by Nike, Spain moved to a 3-0 record in the Group A standings and took another step towards securing a spot in the next phase, leaving Belarus winless at 0-3.

They said: "It was a really tough game. We needed to do our best to try create a gap on the scoreboard, but every time we got up to 10 or 11 points, Belarus was able to come back. They played a really tough game and they deserved it. It was a good lesson for us that it's not easy to play against anyone, especially on the road. The most important thing was that we got our third win in three games." – Spain forward Sergi Vidal.

"I want to say a very big thank you to our fans. It was a very interesting game. I want to wish the best of luck both to our team and Spain." – Belarus guard Aliaksandr Kudrautsau.

"It's a pity that we lost this game. It was a close game. We had good energy, maybe we lost too much in the first quarter, falling behind by 10 points. We came back into the game three times because of our energy on the boards. We also played very good offensive sets. I think this our best game yet." – Belarus head coach Aliaksandr Krutsikau.

FIBA