NEU-ULM (FIBA EuroBasket 2017 Qualifiers) – Russia brushed aside concerns caused by the loss to injury of sharp-shooting Vitaly Fridzon, as they continued at the weekend their unbeaten run in warm-up games for the upcoming FIBA EuroBasket 2017 Qualifiers. Sergey Bazarevich’s team used long rotations to claim three wins in as many games in the ERGO Supercup friendly tournament in Germany, while the hosts came in second, Finland took third place and Poland were a disappointing fourth on three straight losses.

"We are not yet at the level of the Russians, they showed us where the line is right now. Hats off to Russia, they a very strong team." - Chris Fleming

On the opening day, Russia grabbed an early 10-point lead and secured an 89-77 win over Poland. Star center Timofey Mozgov poured in 21 points to lead five Russian players in double digits while Maciej Lampe’s double-double of 27 points and 11 rebounds was not enough for Poland.

In the other Friday game, Germany prevailed 75-66 over Finland behind 15 points from Danilo Barthel and 14 from Robin Benzing, while Mikko Koivisto and youngster Lauri Markkanen each had 10 points in losing efforts.

The clash that effectively determined the winner of the event took place on Saturday and Russia began to pull away in the second quarter to cruise to a 92-73 win over Germany, as Semen Antonov led no less than six Russians in double digits with his 16 points.

"The hosts came out playing aggressively and we were not ready for this, we could not respond," commented coach Bazarevich. "But the players who came off the bench - [Evgenii] Baburin, [Andrey] Zubkov, [Maxim] Kolyushkin, Antonov - made it clear to them that on our team everyone can play basketball. That is a positive thing. They turned around the game and we pulled ahead."

For Germany, big man Tibor Pleiss had a team-high 12 points and eight boards in defeat. "We saw a very good team today, the Russians are as expected very physical and showed their experience," said hosts’ head coach Chris Fleming. "At first we were doing well in the game and Tibor looked good against Mozgov.

"In the second quarter, the Russians increased the defensive pressure and we had problems with our offensive discipline. We are not yet at the level of the Russians, today they showed us where the line is right now. Hats off to Russia, they a very strong team."

In the other Saturday game, Lauri Markkanen erupted for 24 points and propelled Finland to an 80-71 win over Poland. On Sunday, Russia defeated Finland 84-72 behind 15 points from Baburin and 14 from Dmitry Kulagin, while Germany prevailed 80-61 over Poland as four players scored 12 points apiece for the hosts.

Russia were drawn in Group C of the FIBA EuroBasket Qualifiers that tip off on 31 August, together with Sweden and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Germany will go up against neighbours Austria, Denmark and Netherlands in Group B. Poland hope to recover their form before they enter the race in Group D where they are facing Belarus, Estonia and Portugal. Finland are one of the four co-hosts of FIBA EuroBasket 2017 and therefore have a guaranteed berth in the Final Round.

FIBA