FIBA EuroBasket Day 6 Review: FYR Macedonia eliminates Bosnia, Greece knocks out Croatia (Part-4)
FYR Macedonia 75 – Bosnia and Herzegovina 63
Carrying a record of 2-2 in the first four games, Bosnia And Herzegovina set foot on the court on Monday night hoping to finish with the third seed in Group C. However, followed by an impressive start against FYR Macedonia, Bosnia
not only lost three-point lead right after halftime as a result of going scoreless in nearly six minutes, but the team also lost the opportunity to clinch the second round berth.
FYR Macedonia, who never looked back in the tournament after losing the first battle, upped their intensity after the break and clinched their fourth straight victory with a 75-63 margin.
Pero Antic was the top performer in Macedonia’s line-up. He dominated the proceeding with a magnificent double-double of 15 points and 14 rebounds, while Bo McCalebb racked up a game-high 22 points.
On the other hand, Nihad Dedovic and Kenan Bajramovic were the only players in Bosnia’s line-up who posted double figures at 15 and 12 points respectively.
Fuelled with the determination to race away into the next round, Bosnia commanded the proceedings in the first two quarters and obtained 38-35 lead. However, Bosnia went cold in the face of a tremendous defensive effort from Macedonians
in the third quarter and they could not score a bucket in more than half of the period.
Macedonia cashed in on the struggles of their opponents and raced to a 53-47 advantage by the time the third quarter ended. They never looked back after that and secured a 12 point win.
Greece 74 – Croatia 69
Kostas Vasiliadis powered Greece with a game-high 17 points and clutched 5 rebounds marshalling them to a 74-69 victory over Croatia.
Croatia had to pay the price of a dreadful start which eventually brought forth their elimination from the 2011 EuroBasket. Four players landing double figures for them but all of it came short as a result of a poor performance
in the first half of the game.
Veteran power forward Antonios Fotsis of Greece, who shared a game-high 17 points with Kostas also played a vital role in spearheading the team towards their fourth victory in five games.
Croatia opened the scoring with a jumper from Ante Tomic which was the only moment they took the lead. Greece took the charge swiftly and procured a massive 12-point lead in the first quarter. The brutal domination of Greece followed
in the second quarter as well and they constructed a huge 44-27 advantage going into the halftime, taking the game out of Croatia’s hand.
Croatia pushed really hard to rise after halftime and even outscored Greece in the last two quarters. However, the substantial lead that was constructed by Greece in the first half earned them a straightforward win.
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