Croatia overcame a slow start against Italy to win and ensure qualification for the quarterfinals of Eurobasket 2013 with one game remaining in the 2nd round.
Bojan Bogdanovic Fired Up
After falling behind early and only scoring eight points in the first quarter, Croatia rebounded and came storming back at the start of the 2nd half, scoring 18 in the first five minutes of the half through 3-pointers from Bojan Bogdanović and Krunoslav Šimon. After outscoring Italy 26-9 in the 3rd quarter, the game was all but wrapped up as Italy pulled back four in the 4th but fell 76-68.
Highlights
Bojan Bogdanović led the team with 18 points and two steals, with Krunoslav Šimon adding 14 points, and Roko Ukić and Dontaye Draper breaking into double digits. Ante Tomić has made his last nine field goals, as he was 4/4 against Italy with a game high eight rebounds. Croatia will play Greece in their final group game on Monday, with a win likely placing them in 2nd. They can finish no worse than 3rd and a match-up in the quarterfinals against Serbia is very possible.
Roko Ukic Interview
I guess you are right Ziva. Thought the tiebreaker was point differential
Not out yet. I’ll put it in the write-up once the Finland game ends
Does anyone have a link to the highlights? Unfortunately I missed the game. Thanks in advance
wow pretty amazing for us. I’m proud of the guys for even getting this far.
you sure?????? I thought we get Ukraine and won the group. Nothing Slovenia can do to win the group now.
Unless Slovenia lose to Finland, we will play France
Hung on for the win…….nice.
Ukraine next. We should beat them which would mean a berth into the semis and qualifying for next year’s World Cup. I still don’t know if we can medal here. I am not expecting us to medal even at this point because I think the four best teams are Spain (blown out against them) and the next three best teams are in the other group (Serbia, France, Lithuania).
Losing this would be a Greek tragedy. Because I don’t think we will win the QF game.
Yeah……they need this…..Playing Urkraine is much different than the other option in the QFs.
DOUBLE OT!!! Shouldve won this by now
Tomic is a smart player, but so soft. ANd he cant shoot free throws.
Nice to see our guys can joke around like this. Appears to be a good atmosphere with the boys……
http://www.index.hr/sport/clanak/simon-previse-je-hajdukovaca-u-reprezentaciji/700755.aspx
@Faux Cro
im an Aus-Cro so i dont have that option : (
Bogdanovic is from Mostar 😀
Cheers Ziva
I was unaware of the requirements to qualify for the world cup.
I will try to double up my winning that i got from the Italy match.
I’ve watch most of our games in this tournament and the team is improving as the tournament has gone on. Hope they can win and finish top (and i collect!!!)
No, not going to rest against the greeks. Why would we???? A win and win clinch first which means playing Ukraine in the QF.
The other three teams in that group are much better than Ukraine. Beat Greece, win the group, then win the QF against Ukraine and qualify for next summer’s World Cup in Spain.
I will still be shocked if we can medal, but this has been a nice surprise.
Does anyone know if we plan on resting our players against the Greeks?
We looked good aginst the Italians. I might back them to win again if we are taking the game serious.
@Iggy:
ESPN3, but I think it may be US only.
Is there a link to hd full match of cro vs Serb in beograd anyone can supply for me ?
Unless we can top the group, not a huge difference between France and Lithuania. Remember, even if we lose in the QF’s, we still have big games in the consolation to qualify for the Worlds
This is how the other group ended:
1. Serbia
2. Lithuana
3. France
4. Ukraine
Number 4 of our group will play number 1 in their group and so on.
So we won’t play against the Serbs in the next round. We better go for the first or the second place(and win our game against Greece) because I really think Lithuana is the most difficult team we could meet).
well beating an Italian team that i think didn’t lose a single match until this one with Cro is somewhat impressing, even if we can make it to the semis would be a great accomplishment
Wow, don’t mean to be a downer but I really didn’t think they’d do much in this tournament. But always glad to see any team representing Croatia do well. Let’s see how they do.
Yup… I’ll have a write-up once its officially lost tomorrow
G.. G… GOODY !!!
pity about davis cup we lost the doubles