POL – Poles among impressive winners in opening day thrillers at EuroBasket

WROCLAW (EuroBasket 2009) - The opening day of EuroBasket 2009 was marked by upsets, escape acts and a big triumph by hosts Poland in front of a raucous crowd in Wroclaw.

With all of the teams taking aim at a top-six finish in order to qualify for the 2010 FIBA World Championship, Muli Katzurin's Poles had a dream start with a 90-78 Group D triumph over Bulgaria.

Prokom Sopot shooting guard David Logan, the recently naturalized Pole from the United States,  had a game-high 23 points while Michal Ignerski poured in 22 - 11 of which came in the first quarter.

Orlando Magic center Marcin Gortat also came up big with 16 points, including 12 before the break.

"We knew Ignerski was a good player," said Gershon. "We didn't have anyone to stop him."

With Poland leading 17-16, the EuroBasket hosts scored nine unanswered points as part of a 27-9 run to take a commanding 44-25 advantage 15 minutes into the game.

A Logan three-ball at the buzzer gave the hosts a 52-37 lead at the break.

Poland's Orlando Magic center Gortat scored 12 of his 16 points in the opening half and also pulled down 10 rebounds and swatted five shots.

"This was a must-win game for us," said Poland coach Muli Katzurin, the former national team boss of Israel.

"In my experience at EuroBaskets, you know the first game is always open.

"The atmosphere was fantastic and my team played very well."

There was an upset in the other Group D game when next year's FIBA World Championship hosts Turkey defeated Lithuania 84-76.

For the Turks, Hedo Turkoglu poured in a team-high 19 points and Ersan Ilyasova had 17 with six rebounds.

Guard Ender Arslan scored seven of his 16 points in the final stanza for Turkey.

If the Turks finish in the top six, then the seventh-placed team will advance to next year’s big event.

In Warsaw, Serbia led by as many as 19 points and survived a fourth-quarter comeback to beat world champions Spain, 66-57.

Captain Nenad Krstic finished with a game-high 17 points for Serbia, who played suffocating defense from start to finish inside the Torwar Arena.

When the game was over, Serbia had come up with 12 steals.

"This tournament is long so we won't get carried away but this game was a good way to give the young players some confidence," Serbia's legendary coach Dusan Ivkovic said.

"I want to congratulate my players for showing so much heart and passion."

In the earlier contest, Slovenia broke open a close game at the start of the fourth quarter and beat Great Britain 72-59.

Erazem Lorbek finished with 19 points for Slovenia while Pops Mensah-Bonsu poured in 18 off the bench for the Brits.

In the Group A games played in Poznan, Greece brushed aside F.Y.R. of Macedonia 86-54.

Under new coach Jonas Kazlauskas, the Greeks stormed into a 28-13 lead and never looked back.

Vasillis Spanoulis led a balanced Greek attack with 17 points.

Croatia, one of the favorites to reach the podium, had to scratch and claw their way to an 86-79 victory over Israel - a team that beat them two years ago at the EuroBasket in Spain.

The game was knotted at 71-71 with 5:24 remaining when Nikola Vujcic made one of two free-throws and Marko Popovic drilled a three-ball to put the Croatians in front for good.

Israel lost despite getting 31 points from Lior Eliyahu.

In Gdansk where the Group B games are being played, defending champions Russia stunned Latvia 81-68 with the country's naturalized forward from the United States, Kelly McCarty, scoring 24 points and grabbing nine rebounds.

All of Russia's stars are not with the team this summer but national team boss and David Blatt said: "It was a chance to prove that our new and young team has potential and talent.

"We lost few our main players and it's not easy to play in such situation. But young players proved their worth, I am proud of them."

France were expected to win their opening game against Germany and did, but only just.

Tony Parker drilled a three-pointer with 2:38 left to put France ahead for good at 62-61.

Parker had the last 11 points for France, who won the Additional Qualifying Round to reach the EuroBasket.

Germany, playing without superstar Dirk Nowitzki this summer, lost but nevertheless gained confidence from their performance.

"It's always difficult to play against Tony Parker," Germany coach Dirk Bauermann said.

"He destroyed us in the last quarter. We have a lot of young players without much experience. Our big problem today was the defense but I am proud of my boys."

Jeff Taylor
FIBA