MUNICH (Germany) - Slovakia claimed the final spot in the next round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Pre-Qualifiers as they survived a dramatic final day, on Saturday.

Vladimir Brodziansky stepped up for his nation with a 28-point haul in their decisive 77-73 triumph over Kosovo to deny the hosts, in Prishtina, in the battle for second place.

Slovakia trailed 23-15 after the opening quarter, but fought back and used a 14-4 spell in the final period to gain control as they took the all-important victory. Dardan Berisha had 24 points in vain for Kosovo as they fell short of a place to continue their World Cup dreams.

Meanwhile, Iceland completed their fifth win in Group B with a hard-fought 86-84 win over Luxembourg, who had their own aspirations of advancing on the final day.

Oliver Vujakovic led a fightback from 15 points down with a team best of 20 points before his team came up short as Iceland were led to the victory behind 25 points from Tryggvi Hlinason, who also posted 3 blocks.

In Group A, Portugal secured top spot in the group with a 5-1 record as they rounded out their campaign with a dominant 84-52 success over Cyprus. Sasa Borovnjak led the rout with 21 points and 11 rebounds, while Rafael Lisboa added 15 points as the duo starred from the bench.

Belarus also finished with five wins from their six games as they bounced back from Thursday's defeat to see off Albania in a 93-72 victory. They raced clear in the second half with Yauheni Beliankou top scoring with a game-high of 26 points on 10-of-12 shooting.

FIBA