SAN MARINO (FIBA EuroBasket 2017) - Montenegro suffered a costly defeat to Cyprus and had to settle for a runners-up finish at the 2017 Games of the Small States of Europe.

The Olympic-style competition, which had 13 sports and nine countries taking part, including hosts San Marino, ended up with the unbeaten Cypriots as winners of the basketball event while Montenegro and third-place Iceland joined them on the podium.

Players hoping to make the Montenegro roster for the country's FIBA EuroBasket 2017 campaign in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, like guard Nikola Pavlicevic were involved.

Pavlicevic helped Montenegro qualify for FIBA EuroBasket 2017

Montenegro began their tournament well with a 79-57 romp over Luxembourg and a 90-49 demolition of Andorra on May 30 and May 31, respectively.

Yet against Cyprus, they came unstuck offensively and fell 74-70. Iakovos Panteli, a 31-year-old point guard, poured in 22 points for the Cypriots in that triumph while Pavlicevic and Nemanja Radovic each had 14 points in defeat.

Cyprus, who on opening day had won 71-57 over Iceland, prevailed five times in as many attempts at the Games of Small States of Europe to claim top spot.

Montenegro bounced back from the loss to Cyprus to win their remaining two games against San Marino and Iceland to take second place.

"We have not achieved the purpose for which we came," said Pavlicevic, who averaged 5 points, 1.6 assists and 1.2 rebounds last summer in Montenegro's successful EuroBasket qualifying campaign. "The only true blunder we had was against Cyprus, when we didn't attack their zone well."

Nemanja Vranjes was the other member of the Montenegro side who played last summer as his country's team clinched a spot in this summer's EuroBasket.

At EuroBasket, Montenegro will play in the Group Phase against Spain, Croatia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania.

Iceland, meanwhile, will have a much stronger side when they arrive in Helsinki for the start of their EuroBasket campaign against Poland, Greece, France, Finland and Slovenia. However, like Montenegro, Iceland did have some players that may be with the side later this summer.

Iceland will have a stronger team at EuroBasket 2017

Kristofer Acox, Olafur Olafsson and Tryggvi Hlinason were in the Iceland side that qualified for the FIBA EuroBasket who took part in the Games of Small States of Europe. Iceland had other promising talents like Jon Axel Gudmonsson, who started at Davidson College in American college basketball this past season as a freshman.

Davidson is where NBA and USA superstar Stephen Curry played.

FIBA