By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
In a close game with several alternating leads, Poland, fresh from yesterday’s victory over Bosnia Herzegovina, managed to prevail 79-82 over Russia. In a tight first quarter, Russia, after a surprising loss to Israel in the opening game, claimed a 3-point lead before heading into the second. Midway through the second quarter Poland regained the lead, and after losing it and regaining it a few times, closed out the half with a 2-point advantage. Poland retained this advantage throughout a more subdued – in terms of scoring – third period and, even though the Russians tried to outscore them in the fourth, managed to hold on to it until the end.
“The guys showed character in the last five minutes,” Russia’s coach, Evgeny Pashutin, said after the game. “We brought it back but it wasn’t enough. We have to be focused for 40 minutes… but we’re going to fight and whatever happens, happens.”
The Washington Wizards center, Marcin Gortat, with a good start and a solid game overall, scored 18 points, fetched 6 rebounds and dished out 3 assists. Adam Waczynski, the team’s top scorer, had 15 points at half-time and by the end of the game had racked up an impressive 23 points (1 rebound, 1 assist). Mateusz Ponitka was a great reinforcement for Mike Taylor’s team with 10 points, 3 boards and 4 assists.
For the defeated, Dmitry Khvostov (11 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists) and Andrey Zubkov started out strong with the latter putting up some big numbers with 21 points, 7 boards and 2 assists. Sergey Monya added another 8 (plus 5 rebounds and 4 assists) and Egor Vyaltsev (3 rebounds, 1 assist) and Nikita Kurbanov (2 rebounds, 1 assist) shared 7 points. The CSKA Moscow power forward, Andrey Vorontsevich came alive late in the game with a total of 12 points and 6 rebounds (plus 1 assist).
After the game Monya admitted that, “It was very difficult for us. We’ve lost our first two games. So the next two games we must show up. Yesterday we lost by three and same here, but now we must rest and prepare.”
Next up for Poland is a tough fixture against France, while the Russians will face Finland.
“France is clearly the favourite,” coach Taylor commented. “They have a fantastic team and a fantastic coaching staff… We’re looking forward to the challenge. We’ve played good basketball but we have a huge respect for them.”
Russia v Poland – Group A – Game Highlights – EuroBasket 201 by FIBA