MINSK (FIBA EuroBasket 2021 Pre-Qualifiers) - Belarus enjoyed an 11-point lead with 5 minutes to play, had a 3-point lead with 5 seconds to go in OT1, but Denmark kept on coming back, taking a 98-94 win away from home.

Turning point: More like turning points. Denmark put more speed to their offense when they had found themselves down 67-56 with just under five minutes to play, and ended up forcing overtime.

It seemed they ran out of gas chasing that gap, as Belarus were in front through the entire first overtime, and took an 82-79 lead with five seconds to play.

Denmark were without a timeout, a scramble across full court ended up with a wide open three-pointer by Jonas Zohore Bergstedt. The Danish center knocked down the buzzer-beating triple to send the game into another overtime, and that was his only attempt from beyond the arc in the entire game.

From there on, it was all about Gabriel Lundberg. The point guard guided Denmark to an incredible win with 9 points in the final five minutes.

Game hero: Lundberg cannot get the call, despite his 27 points on 10-of-20 from the field, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals, because he shot only 4-of-10 from the charity stripe. Shavon Shields, however, proved how big of an addition he is - 26 points on 10-of-15 shooting, 4-of-5 from long range, 9 rebounds, 6 assists and an efficiency rating of 33!

Stats don't lie: Every possession matters in games as close as this one. Denmark struggled to keep it under control, collecting 9 turnovers in the first three quarters, but only 4 in the fourth quarter and both overtimes combined. Belarus let it slip 8 times in that stanza, including twice in the final minute of regulation, when they had chances to seal the deal.

Game notes: Denmark end their 4-game losing streak to Belarus, and win for the first time in this matchup. They continue their unbeaten run in the FIBA EuroBasket 2021 Pre-Qualifiers, after four wins in the First Round, they start the Second Round with win number five in their streak.

They said: "To tell you the truth, I’ve been really worried about this game. To begin with we didn’t have our main point guard Devon Saddler. But Kiryl Sitnik perfectly coped with the tasks and filled the shortage of Devon. I’m a bit disappointed with the fact that we stopped at a moment. Sometimes we were full of emotions. If you think it over, every time it’s difficult for us to start a season but we always pick up speed during the year” - Belarus head coach Aliaksandr Krutsikau. 

FIBA