NAESTVED (FIBA EuroBasket 2021 Pre-Qualifiers) - Denmark are no longer unbeaten. Belarus' experience showed in the closing minutes of the duel in Denmark, as they claimed their first win in Group A, 84-79.

Turning Point: It seemed Belarus would ease to victory after Aliaksei Trastsinetski's corner three-pointer bounced off of the front rim and somehow ended up going through the net to give the visitors a six-point lead with 90 seconds left.

But, Jonathan Gilling went mad, hitting back-to-back three-pointers, the second one while being fouled for a four-point play, a personal 7-0 run and a 73-72 lead with less than a minute to play. Belarus did not panic, Devon Saddler drew a foul, knocked down both shots to get his team back up, and Adama Darboe turned it over for Denmark on their crucial possession.

That was not the end of the drama, because Denmark's Gabriel Lundberg went on to pick up a technical foul for lane violation, and Denmark still had a chance to get closer once Adama Darboe was fouled on a three-pointer and the Belarus bench picked up a technical of their own.

However, Yauheni Beliankou kept his cool from the charity stripe at the other end, giving Belarus an 84-79 win in this one.

Stats Don't Lie: While the overall difference in turnovers was not that big (13-12), it was the turnovers that killed Denmark's unbeaten run. Belarus owned a 16-4 edge in the points from turnovers category, way too big of a gap for such a close game at the end.

Game Hero: Aliaksei Trastsinetski scored a team-high 21 points for Belarus, hitting all five of his three-pointers, almost all of them killing the momentum for Denmark's potential comeback run. Artsiom Parakhouski gets the honorable mention, 18 points and 10 rebounds for the big guy before fouling out.

Game Notes: Denmark lost, Belarus won, and Sweden are celebrating! The yellow-and-blue will shine again in February, knowing that a couple of wins take Sweden through as group winners. However, a win for Sweden against Denmark followed up with a defeat against Belarus would mean that we have a three-way tie at 2-2 in this group.

They Said: "Much respect to Belarus. They were losing by 28 in Sweden only 74 hours ago and they turned around and played well here." - Erez Bittman, Denmark head coach

"We were just not good enough today and that's why we lost. We had absolutely no energy in the first half and just a little in the second when we came back. That second half energy should have come much earlier, but once we got it, we got a few runs. In the end we made a few mistakes and needed a few calls and didn't get it, but we can't expect to win when we only play 10 minutes of tough basketball in a 40 minute game." Chanan Colman, Denmark

"We were able to take advantage of Denmark in the paint for long periods, and that's really well done of my players. They were tough after the loss in Sweden and I think in a way that game helped us tonight because we were in game mode already. We let the Danish perimeter players do too much in the fourth quarter, but ended up with the win." Aliaksandr Krutsikau, Belarus head coach

"We came out aggressively and we knew Denmark would be aggressive against us. Denmark dominated Sweden inside, so we knew we had a tough fight inside. The game was much similar the last game we played against Denmark, in that we were ahead for most of the game but let Denmark come back and hit three pointers." - Artsiom Parakhouski, Belarus

FIBA