By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Dzanan Musa and John Roberson led Bosnia to a big 97-93 win over Slovenia that complicated even further the situation in Group B.
After this result, Bosnia and Slovenia are tied at 2-1 in the second spot, behind perfect Germany (3-0), while after 11 straight wins, Luka Doncic suffered his first Eurobasket defeat.
Musa with 22 points and Roberson with 23 were the stars of the show, while Jusuf Nurkic just missed the double-double (12 p. 9 r.)
“It’s amazing, it feels unreal to be here after all the problems we had until to arrive here during our preparation”, said captain Miralem Halilovic who scored 13 points. “It’s one of the biggest wins in Bosnia’s basketball history. I think this group is really special”.
Coach Aziz Bekir added: “I tried as a coach to build a wall around this team, but after all those problems, now it’s time to take what we deserve. We can go high”.
It was a very competitive game with Bosnia having just a two-point advantage (91-89) entering the last two minutes. After a shot missed by Vlatko Cancar, Edin Atic made a crucial layup (93-89) and Goran Dragic answered (93-91) with 43 seconds left in the game.
With both teams unable to score, Dragic fouled Atic and he made both free throws (95-91), just 13 seconds before the final buzzer. Doncic managed to score (95-93) and with six seconds left, it was time for Roberson to go to the free throws line and score (97-93). That was the end of it.
“The crucial last free throws from Bosnia and an offensive rebound may have cost us the game”, said Cancar.
Atic added 12 points for Bosnia, while Cancar had 22 points for Slovenia, Goran Dragic scored 20 and Doncic had 16 points (0/8 3p.), eight rebounds, and eight assists.
“I think we didn’t put the right pressure on them from the start of the game and they started making shots and also rebounding was not the best for us”, added coach Aleksander Sekulic.
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL