Romanians look strong in friendly win over Tunisia

CLUJ-NAPOCA (FIBA EuroBasket 2017) - Romania beat Tunisia on Friday night to spark their FIBA EuroBasket 2017 preparations into life.

Playing in Cluj-Napoca, where they will host Group C games, the Romanians claimed a 67-56 victory.

Vlad Moldoveanu, Andrei Mandache and and Adrian Gutoaia led the way for the Romanians, pouring in 14, 12 and 10 points, respectively.

"We're coming off three very hard weeks physically and now we're starting to feel comfortable with our legs," Romania coach Marcel Tenter told FIBA.basketball. "We played with Vlad, who joined us a few days ago.

"We had a very good preparation game in which there was a lot of physicality involved with very tough defenses. For this stage, we're on the right way, of course with a lot of details still to perfect and to work on in the future." 

Tunisia, one of the top sides in Africa, jumped out to a 19-15 lead in the first quarter but Tenter's team hit back to lead 33-32 at the break.

They turned on the style in the third quarter, outscoring the nation that won FIBA AfroBasket 2011 and played at the 2012 Olympics, 23-10, to seize command for good.

The two sides will also square off in a second friendly on Sunday.

"It's going to help us to play them again because it's more preparation," Tenter said. "We'll have more data about them and good repetition and will have a chance to prepare very tactically against an opponent and to try and execute it."

FIBA