By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Ukraine got officially the ticket to Berlin and the second phase of Eurobasket 2022 after beating Italy 84-73 in Milan. The team of Ainars Bagatskis, which had its training camp in Latvia due to the Russian invasion, has a 3-0 record, the same as Greece, and tomorrow’s game between the two teams will decide the top of Group C.
However, making it to the Round of 16 is already a huge success.
The game was decided in the last quarter with Ukraine having a partial score of 27-16 and Italy not being able to keep up. Svi Myklailiuk was the start of the night with 25 points, Issuf Sanon and Ivan Tkachenko added 17 points each.
As veteran big man Artem Pustovyi said in the press conference: “This was a really important game for us. We played hard basketball, the key was our defense”.
Coach Bagatskis added: “We expected this to be a hard game. It was important for us to play great basketball”.
Achille Polonara with 17 points and Simone Fontecchio with 14 tried to save Italy, but in the fourth quarter, Ukraine simply dominated.
“We allowed them too many 1-on-1, too many offensive rebounds on crucial moments”, said Italian captain Gigi Datome. “On offense, we were struggling, we came out with rushed decisions”.
As coach Gianmarko Pozzecco added: “We played without energy. We were tired, we spent a lot of energy, especially mentally, in the game against Greece. They killed us. Tomorrow we have to play another kind of basketball”.
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL