NICOSIA (FIBA EuroBasket 2021 Pre-Qualifiers) - Cyprus let a 13-point lead slip out of their hands, but still held on for a 69-67 win over Portugal, who are hosting Luxembourg on Sunday.

Turning point: Vasilios Kounas made a late shot and drew a foul with just over a minute to go in the game. That made it a two-possession game, and while he missed the additional free throw, it didn't cost Cyprus, as Tomas Barrosso missed a three-pointer at the buzzer for Portugal.

Game hero: Kounas not only made the most important bucket of the game, but also finished with a team-high 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field. However, Portugal might consider Joao Gomes the real game hero, his 23 points and 11 rebounds got them back from -13 in the second half, which could be crucial in a potential tie at the end of FIBA EuroBasket 2021 Pre-Qualifiers First Round.

Stats don't lie: A 41-25 advantage in bench points helped Cyprus to the win. Portugal will have to take better care of the ball - hard to get a win away from home with 20 turnovers and just 11 assists in 40 minutes of action.

They said: "We gave everything to win this game. We are together the whole team, just from Sunday. We faced a country with a much bigger population than Cyprus, a country that participated in three FIBA EuroBasket tournaments in the past. But we showed that we were not afraid of them. I believe this was a big step forward for Cyprus basketball. The fans helped us very much to win this game and we would like to have them again in the future, for the next games we will be having" - Cyprus player Roberto Mantovani.

Game notes: Nikolaos Stylianou has now made a three-pointer in all of his last seven games in FIBA national team competitions. On Thursday, he wasn't as impressive as against Switzerland in August 2017, when he made 8-of-12 triples, but going 2-of-5 from long range helped him collect 13 points off the bench against Portugal.

FIBA