Israel - Israel begins three-state trip in Bosnia

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A day after needing overtime to get the better of Great Britain in Wednesday's first EuroBasket 2009 qualifier in Tel Aviv, the national team set off on a 10-day, three-state European tour which begins with a game at Bosnia and Herzegovina on Saturday.
Israel's Tapiro defends...

The Israelis will then travel to the Czech Republic for a game on Wednesday before playing Britain in Liverpool next Saturday and then returning home for two more games in Israel.

After playing each other home and away, the top team in each of the four groups and the three best second-place teams qualify for next year's European Championships in Poland.

Israel needed a dose of good luck to force the match with Britain into overtime when British point guard Nate Reiking fouled Israeli captain Meir Tapiro with half a second left on the clock and Israel down by a point. Tapiro sunk both his free throws and his team won in overtime.

In Wednesday's other Group D game the Bosnians lost heavily to host Czech Republic 70-56 in Pardubice, but Israel coach Tzvika Sherf stressed they will be a different proposition on home soil.

"It is going to be a tough game," Sherf told reporters at Ben-Gurion airport. "According to all the information we have on the Bosnians, and the preparation games of theirs we have seen, they play very well.

I don't know what happened to them in their game [at the Czech Republic] and I will watch a video of the game when we arrive. But we know the team and the players, and we know it will be a fiery atmosphere on their court." The match up will be played in the eastern Bosnian city of Tuzla.

"It will be a real home game for them and there will be pressure on the referees and we need to be prepared for this. I am not looking at what happened in yesterday's game, I am looking forward," Sherf added.

The Bosnians did well in their preparation games, beating teams including Portugal. The team's 22-year-old big man Mirza Teletovic was named revelation of the year in Spain last season after impressive performances for Tau Ceramica which reached the Euroleague Final Four, and will be a main threat to the Israelis.

Teletovic scored only 10 points on Wednesday and will be eager to put in a strong performance against Israel.

Straight after the loss, Bosnia and Herzegovina coach Mensur Bajramovic was already looking to improving in time for the Israel game.

"I believe that the Czech team just wanted to win more than we did today," he said. "The most important thing for my team right now is to forget about this loss as soon as possible and focus on the remainder of the qualifiers, especially on our first home game against Israel."