ITA - Italy's EuroBasket dream all but ended by loss

RIGA (EuroBasket) - Italy look all but certain to miss a second straight EuroBasket after losing 69-68 to Latvia in a thrilling Group A qualifier on Thursday night.

Having lost their opening game 79-71 at home to Israel, Italy desperately needed a win to breathe life back into their campaign, but instead they got squeezed out in a thrilling climax.

Behind the hot hand of Andrea Bargnani - who made eight of 12 attempts from the field en route to 18 points - Italy were well placed when his jump-shot put them 66-65 ahead with 2:15 to go.

But the Toronto Raptors star then fouled Ingus Bankevics, his fifth foul sending him to the bench. Bankevics nailed both free throws to put Latvia back in front.

Janis Strelnieks then made it 69-66 with a jump shot.

Marco Belinelli got to the line with 31 seconds left, but could only make one of the two free throws.

Strelnieks missed a jump-shot for Latvia, and Ronalds Zakis fouled Stefano Mancinelli to send him to the line with eight seconds left and a chance to tie it.

But Mancinelli, making his comeback from suspension, missed the first before closing the gap to one.

Rihards Kuksiks missed two free throws for Latvia at the other end to give Italy one final hope with two seconds left, but after calling a timeout to draw up a play, they failed to get a shot away.

Kuksiks led Latvia with 12 points, while Strelnieks had 11 and Rolands Freimanis 10.

Mancinelli and Belinelli each scored 14 points for Italy.

Italy face Finland next, but with two games still to come against Montenegro and a trip to Israel, it is hard to see a way back now.

Montenegro improved to 2-0 despite the struggles of Nikola Pekovic.

The Minnesota Timberwolves star managed only one of eight from the field and was held to nine points as he battled foul trouble.

But Montenegro found another way to beat Finland 74-60 as Vladimir Dasic led the victors with 12 points, while Vladimir Dragicevic had nine points.

Teemu Rannikko's 20 points were in vain for Finland.

Macedonia sent out a message to the rest of Group B as they crushed Hungary 81-44.

Todor Gechevski led Macedonia with 17 points while Darko Sokolov added 15, Pero Antic had 14 and Predrag Samardziski came up with 10.

They top the group from Bosnia & Herzegovina and Great Britain.

The Brits, who face Macedonia on Sunday, were not in action on Thursday, while Bosnia opened their account with an 86-76 win over Ukraine.

The Bosnians came racing out of the blocks to take an 18-8 lead on Ratko Varda's lay-up with seven minutes gone.

Ukraine never got closer than five again in the game as Bosnia cruised home.

Kenan Bajramovic scored 18 to lead five Bosnia players in double figures as Henry Domercant added 16, Ratko Varda had 12 and Nemanja Gordic and Nihad Dedovic added 11 each.

Ukraine got 23 points and 10 rebounds from Oleksiy Pecherov but could not find him enough support.

In Group C, Poland outgunned Portugal to pick up their first win in EuroBasket qualifying with an 86-64 victory in Bydgoszcz.

Poland shot 26 of 50 (52%) from the field, with idential numbers of 13 of 25 from both two- and three-point range to fire their way past Portugal.

Marcin Gortat scored 19, making six of eight from the field and seven of eight from the line, to lead five Poland players scoring in double figures, while also grabbing 11 rebounds.

Belgium pulled out all the stops in the final five minutes to open their campaign with a 74-64 win over Georgia.

The hosts finished with a 13-5 run in the final five minutes to take victory.

Christophe Beghin led Belgium with 17 points, making seven of his 10 attempts from the field.

FIBA