ISR - Israel save best for last to bounce Czechs and reach EuroBasket

TEL AVIV (EuroBasket Qualifying) - There will be no Additional Qualifying Round for Israel this time, and no Relegation Round either.

There is, instead, an incredible moment to savour for basketball fans in Israel after the national team pulled off a stunning 98-61 win over the Czech Republic on Saturday to climb into second place in EuroBasket Division D behind Great Britain.

The margin of victory was so large that Israel improved their goal coefficient to become one of the three best second-place teams and earn a ticket to next year's EuroBasket in Poland.

Israel needed to win the Additional Qualifying Round, under current coach Zvi Sherf, to reach the last two EuroBaskets in Serbia & Montenegro (2005) and in Spain last year.

"We did something amazing," Israel guard Meir Tapiro said after the win over the Czechs in Tel Aviv.

Tapiro had 24 points in the victory while Yotam Halperin led Israel with 25.

"We showed our character and determination and did what we had to do," Tapiro said.

What they had to do was beat a team, the Czechs, who had utterly destroyed them in the first meeting back on September 10, 91-70. They also needed, they believed, Turkey to beat France to drop Les Bleus to 3-3 in Group C.

Even then, Israel had to win by a big enough margin to where they would have a better goal coefficient to France.

As it turned out, Israel were so decisive against the Czechs that they finished with a better goal coefficient (1.0488) than Bulgaria (1.0485), who lost at home to Serbia to finish 4-4 and in second place in Group A.

Bulgaria was the third best second-place team ahead of France (1.0313) on the goal coefficient.

One week earlier and Israel almost looked dead and buried following a 10-point loss in Liverpool to Great Britain.

They followed that up with a home win over Bosnia and Herzegovina and then prevailed in a laugher over the Czechs.

"We entered the game in a tough situation, but we were excellent both defensively and offensively," Israel coach Sherf said.

"There were many positives and negatives in this campaign, but the important thing was to advance and we did that."

FIBA