ORADEA (FIBA EuroBasket 2021 Pre-Qualifiers) - Romania needed 6-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc in the final quarter to take down a stubborn Kosovo side 88-83 and collect their first win.

Turning Point: Kosovo took a one-point lead early in the fourth quarter with a pull-up Dardan Berisha three-pointer in transition, but Romania did not back down in the shooting showdown over the final eight minutes. Instead, they went on to make six of their eight shots from deep, and got in front for good.

Kosovo tried to make it interesting late in the game, got within one, but then committed an unsportsmanlike foul before the ball was inbounded, and there was no coming back from that.

Stats Don't Lie: Even without Emanuel Cate, Vlad Moldoveanu and Bobe Nicolescu, Romania still had more firepower off the bench than Kosovo. A 19-5 edge in that department shows how they kept the tempo of the game for all 40 minutes.

Game Hero: How often do you see a player from a losing team here? Lis Shoshi put up 29 points on 11-of-20 shooting from the field, including a 2-of-2 from three-point range, grabbed 18 rebounds, and had an efficiency rating of 35! The big guy for Kosovo keeps on improving every single time he shows up in the national team. Giordan Watson scored 19, going 10-of-10 from the line, for the hosts.

Game Notes: Kosovo are still winless in all of their official games away from home, as they fall to 0-2 in Group B. Romania rise to 1-1, trailing the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (2-0) at the top of the group. MKD await Kosovo on Sunday.

They said: "We fought very hard, we were in the game for almost 40 minutes, but in the end we came up short. Our game plan was to force the home team to stay as far away from our basket as possible. We must give credit to the Romanian team for scoring that much from behind the three-point line. They shot pretty good. We played without Malcolm Armstead, we missed two of our starting five players, but we must give credit to the young guys. They really stepped up in their first appearance in the national team." - Lis Shoshi, Kosovo

"We played very good in the first half. But after the halftime, our opponents put more pressure on us and in the final quarter I believe that some of my player lost their confidence after Romania scored a few three-point shots. That's it, we must move on. I can only congratulate my players and my team after a game like this. They gave it everything they had." - Damir Mulaomerovic, Kosovo head coach

"It was a very difficult game, especially because we had to win to stay in the first-place fight. I'm very happy, I'm glad because we won, and I want to congratulate my teammates on the victory. We knew that they had two valuable players and we prepared very well to limit their actions. But there were a few moments in the first part when we did not succeed and the value of Berisha and Shoshi had their say on the court. We won because we worked a lot as a team and regardless of the difficulties encountered on the court, we found solutions in the last part to fulfill our mission." - Alexandru Olah, Romania

"Despite missing four important players, this is a victory that gives us a boost looking forward. First of all, I'm very happy that we managed to win while missing very important players such as Moldoveanu, Cate or Nicolescu. So, this game and the final result give us confidence, but we must keep finding solutions if we want to have more options regarding the players that can come and play for the national team. We are going through a process with the national team. We need more players that can help." - Tudor Costescu, Romania head coach

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