MKD/LTU - Darks horses stun hosts

KAUNAS (EuroBasket) – F.Y.R. of Macedonia has achieved “the biggest success Macedonia has ever had in any sport”, stunning EuroBasket hosts Lithuania 67-65 in the second Quarter Final.

Those were the words of F.Y.R. of Macedonia Head Coach Marin Dokusovski after his team booked an unexpected spot in the Semi Finals against Spain. The win also guarantees them a spot in the Olympic qualifying tournament and should they continue their dream run through to the final they will be able to book direct tickets to London.

Leading by four points following Lithuanian captain Paulius Jankunas’ “and one” with just over a minute to play, the feeling was that with the assistance of the crowd Lithuania were going to the next round.

F.Y.R. of Macedonia however were not about to go away and with 22 seconds remaining Bo McCalebb would be attempting to lay it to tie the game at 65. But after carrying his team this far it appeared McCalebb had blown it, missing the shot, only for Dairis Songalia to grab the rebound then turn the ball over to one of F.Y.R. of Macedonia’s biggest hero’s on the night, Vojdan Stojanovski. Without a shot, Stojanovski fed the ball back to Vlado Ilievski who hit from beyond the arc to put F.Y.R. of Macedonia up by a point with 11 seconds remaining.

Lithuania had more than enough time for one more shot but Simas Jasaitis could not deliver, missing an open jump shot outside the paint with two seconds remaining. Ilievksi delivered again, picking up the rebound and a foul in the process before making one from two from the charity stripe with 0.5 seconds remaining, silencing the Lithuanian crowd and sending the small group of F.Y.R. of Macedonia fans at Kauno Arena into wild celebrations.

As expected Bo McCalebb was the linchpin in the F.Y.R. of Macedonian side in the first half which was perhaps best exemplified when he was off the court rather than on it. With McCalebb off Lithuania were able to ease out to an eight point lead midway through the second quarter but when McCalebb returned so too would Lithuania’s advantage as F.Y.R. of Macedonia brought it back to a four point game at halftime.

After two quarters McCalebb had already amassed 14 points with Javtokas the best of the Lithuanians with nine points and four rebounds.

Lithuania would up the attention that McCalebb was receiving in the third quarter as the point guard hit the wood twice. But with McCalebb neutralized Vojdan Stojanovski stepped into the fray, hitting three from three from downtown seeing F.Y.R. of Macedonia trailing by just three going into the final quarter.

The special attention on McCalebb continued in the final quarter, as he went down a further two times early in the frame but with Stojanovski hitting his fifth from outside to maintain a 100% record from beyond the arc, F.Y.R. of Macedonia were able to stay in contention for Ilievski to deliver in the final minute.

Despite having his role muted in the second half, McCalebb would still manage to amass a game total 23 points while Ilievski’s final four points would take his tally for the day to 12 but perhaps the bigger story was Vojdan Stojanovski with his finals stats reading five-from-five field goals for 15 points.

Lithuania have little time to take in the loss, as they now must turn around to play Slovenia tomorrow morning with the winner booking a spot in the Olympic qualifying tournament.

F.Y.R. of Macedonia are guaranteed to go into 2012 with their Olympic dreams alive and are only one win away from an automatic place at the London Olympic basketball tournament.

FIBA