POL - British upset-bid falls short against Spain

WROCLAW (EuroBasket 2009) - Great Britain almost pulled off one of the biggest upsets in EuroBasket history but lost to Spain on the second night of Group C play in Warsaw.

Huge underdogs in their first-ever appearance in the tournament and beaten by Slovenia on Monday, Chris Finch's team fought back from a 16-point third-quarter deficit to lead tournament favorites Spain 73-69 with 4:58 to play.

However Pau Gasol, the MVP of Spain's 2006 FIBA World Championship gold-medal win, hit a three-ball to put Spain in front at 74-73 with 3:08 to go and they pulled away for an 84-76 win.

"Every day that we step on the floor, we try our best," Finch said.

"We're here to learn and we are learning quickly. We learned a lot of lessons so far and we hope to apply them."

Spain, who were just 26 of 40 (65%) at the free-throw line, would have lost this game had it not been for Gasol, their 2006 FIBA World Championship MVP who decided after helping the Los Angeles Lakers win the NBA Finals to play for his country this summer.

He only made 11 of 18 at the stripe but still finished with 27 points and 11 rebounds (both game highs), and his go-ahead three-pointer was arguably his team’s biggest shot because Spain never trailed again.

Britain's Jarrett Hart, meanwhile, was a revelation.

He led his team with 15 points and eight rebounds, while Mike Lenzly scored 14 and Nate Reinking 10.

"In the final quarter, we made a great comeback thanks to some good defense," Reinking said.

"We unsettled them but then down the stretch, they came back and increased their pressure, too, and we weren’t getting as much movement in our offense the same way as we did earlier.

"This is a bittersweet result because you want to win against every team. If we upset Spain, the world champions, we knock them out of the tournament."

Britain must beat Serbia in the last Group C game for both sides on Wednesday to stand a chance of progressing to the Qualifying Round.

Serbia weren’t able to follow up their win over Spain with a second against Slovenia, who rolled to an 80-69 victory and also got important minutes from Matjaz Smodis who had missed the past  several days with back and knee injuries.

Slovenia coach Jure Zdovc engineered a famous triumph against his former coach, Serbia coach Dusan Ivkovic.

When asked about the victory over his former mentor, Zdovc said: “I’m very happy to sit up here with him (in the press conference). I’m very happy. It’s just one game. I hope we will play many more games.”

Ivkovic said there was no chance that his teammate would look past Great Britain.

In Group B, Germany gave their chances of reaching the Qualifying Round a shot in the arm with a 76-73 victory over Russia, the team that had beaten Latvia in their opener.

Jan Jagla had 19 points and 11 rebounds for Germany.

France got 23 points from Tony Parker and defeated the Latvians 60-51 to seal their place in the next phase of the EuroBasket. The Latvians have not been eliminated and may still advance with a big win over Germany.

Greece are in the Qualifying Round from Group A after beating Croatia 76-68 to improve to 2-0 and leave Jasmin Repesa’s side at 1-1.

F.Y.R. of Macedonia, hammered by the Greeks in their opener, bounced back to claim an 82-79 victory over Israel (0-2).

Israel must win against Greece and hope the Macedonians fall to Croatia.
 
In Group D, Poland were spurred on by their fanatical fans for the second night in a row and beat Lithuania 86-75 to advance to the Qualifying Round.

Turkey, the hosts of the 2010 FIBA World Championship, joined them in the next round with a 94-66 demolition of Bulgaria.

Lithuania and Bulgaria will play each other for the final spot on offer from Group D for the Qualifying Round.

“We played terrible," said Lithuania coach Ramunas Butautas. "We had no defense, no offense. We lost our game.

"They played strong defense. They scored 20 points on fast breaks.

"We lost the battle on the boards.

"Now we have one final chance tomorrow against Bulgaria and we cannot fail."

Jeff Taylor
FIBA