By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Israel earned their second win in the 2015 Eurobasket by beating Finland 66-79 in Montpellier.
For the first time since 1953! Israel begins the Eurobasket with 2-0. Back then, it was their first-ever appearance and they beat Finland and Bulgaria.
Lior Eliyahu said: “We’re in a great situation right now, 2-0. We have to continue to play hard. Bosnia is a new game. We need to play 40 minutes to win the game.”
An 8-0 run at the end of the first quarter gave the Israeli team a 12-point advantage (13-25), with the squad ending the first half in front by 15 (31-46).
In the second half, though, Finland tried to fight back. With a 18-7 run at the end of the third quarter, they entered the last quarter with a six-point deficit (59-65, 63-69), however Eder Edelstein’s squad retained the lead and won the game by 13, as this was the second consecutive loss for the Finnish team.
“They played really smart and hard. You could see were not really well prepared. Our recovery is always shorter than our opponents. We had it last year in Spain. We have to live with this, come back tomorrow and make a game of it,” said Henrik Dettmann, Finland’s coach.
Eliyahu had 22 points, five rebounds and six assists for the winners, while Erik Murphy scored 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the losing squad.
Finland v Israel – Group A – Game Highlights – EuroBasket 2015 by FIBA