Our National Team suffered its second defeat in as many games for the 5th qualifying group of EuroBasket 2025, after the game that took place in Rijeka, Croatia and specifically at the Zamet Sports Centre.
The score of the game was 92-63.
Despite the effort that our international aces put in, it was very difficult to cope against a strong team like the Croatian team, which consists of several great European basketball aces.
The Croatians made a strong break at the beginning of the game, which gave them a 12-0 lead, shortly after 3`. From early on, our national team was forced to react, but although they found some solutions in offense, the hosts had the answers, which resulted in keeping the difference above +10.
In fact, just before the 8th minute, the score went to 20-5, always for the Croatian team, which led 22-8 at the end of the first quarter.
It was a better start for our national team in the 2nd quarter, as they kept the Croatian team at +15 for their part.
As for the game, the pace was slower compared to the 1st quarter, but then the hosts, finding solutions again, increased the difference to +20 (39-19), just before 17′ and then the difference reached +27 (46-19).
At the end of the half, the Croatian team led 48-24.
The hosts increased the difference to +28 (60-32) at the beginning of the 3rd quarter, which meant that things remained difficult for our internationals, despite the undeniable class of their opponents.
However, our internationals reacted and with a 13-0 run, within a three-minute period, they closed the gap to 60-45 (just before 25′), making an impressive performance!
Then the difference remained at levels above 15 points, always for the Croatian National Team, which at 30′, had the lead at 70-50.
With a 14-4 run, the Croatians increased the difference to +30 (84-54) at the beginning of the 4th quarter and now the goal for our National Team was to close the gap.
But all the facts were now on the side of the Croats, who continued to keep the difference at high levels and finally, they won with a score of 92-63.
10 MINUTES: 22-08, 48-24, 70-50, 92-63.
Croatia (Josip Sesar): D. Drezniak 11 (3), Hezonia 22 (3), Kapusta, Perkovic 7 (1), Prkacin 24, Bazdim 9 (3), M. Drezniak 5 (1), Filipovic 4 (1), Kalajzic, Nakic, Vranes 10.
Cyprus (Christoforos Livadiotis): Willis 16, Mandovani, Michael 5 (1), Stylianou 15 (5), Tigas 1, Giannaras, Iliades 3 (1), Jung, Loizidis, Pasialis 4, Simitzis 17 (2), Tretiakov 2.
Find here the statistics of the match
