By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The games of the second qualifying round for Eurobasket 2015 started with an impressive upset and continued with many road wins. The first team of each group and the six second best will qualify for the final round, in which the European teams of the upcoming FIBA World Cup are already qualified.
The result which turned heads in the first day of action was the 79-77 win of Switzerland over Russia. Despite its many key absences, Russia with Mozgov at center was still the favorite but Dusan Mladjan (photo, 24 p.) and Houston draftee Clint Capela (11 p., 7 r., 5 s.) had a different opinion. One of the most close games was played in Poland with the hosts getting the win by a point and Dennis Schroder of Atlanta Hawks, one of the few NBA players competing in the qualifying round, missing the potential winning shot. Also worth mentioning was Montenegro’s road win over Israel after overtime in a game played in Cyprus, due to the situation in Gaza.
The results are the following (boxscores): Group A: Iceland – Great Britain 83-70, Group B: Israel – Montenergo 97-110 (OT), Bulgaria – Netherlands 53-62, Group C: Poland – Germany 68-67, Austria – Luxenburg 84-76, Group D: Belarus – Denmark 92-72, FYROM – Belgium 76-73 (OT), Group E: Georgia – Czech Republic 72-63, Portugal – Hungary 38-58, Group F: Slovak Republic – Romania 69-81, Sweden – Latvia 50-62, Group G: Switzerland – Russia 79-77