Italy lost its second game in a row in the Qualifying Round for the Eurobasket 2011, and its dreams to compete in Lithuania next summer are disappearing. Yesterday they were the victim of Latvia (69-68), with Janis Strelnieks ('89) making a great job with 11 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in 28 minutes. In the other game of group A Montenegro won in Finland (60-74). Vladimir Mihailovic ('90) had 3 points and 1 rebound in 6' for the winners, while Antti Kanervo ('89) missed his shots (0/3 FG) in 6 minutes for local squad.

 

What happened in group B? FYROM is already with a 2-0 after crashing Hungary (78-44) even another good job of Adam Hanga ('89) and David Vojvoda ('90). The forward scored 13 points with 6 rebounds and 6 assists, while the guard added 10 (3/6) with 4 steals. At local side Marko Simonovski ('89) nailed 3 points (1/3 threes) in 7'. In the other contest Bosnia & Herzegovina made its debut beating Ukraine (76-66) with Nihad Dedovic ('90) scoring 11 (4/7 FG) and pulling down 2 boards. Denys Lukashov ('89) had 4 points with 6 rebounds and 2 assists for ukranians.

 

Finally, in group C, Belgium added its first win beating Georgia (74-64). At the losing effort Giorgi Shermadini ('89), from Panathianikos, scored 5 points pulling down 3 rebounds in 14 minutes. In the other game Poland defeat Portugal (86-64). For portuguese Jose Silva ('89) didn't score in 5 minutes: 0/1 threes and 0/4 FT.

 

Standings (the threes first and the two best seconds will make it):

-Group A: Montenegro (2-0), Latvia (1-1), Israel (1-0), Italy (0-2) and Finland (0-1).

-Group B: FYROM (2-0), Bosnia & Herzegovina (1-0), Great Britain (1-0), Ukraine (0-2) and Hungary (0-2).

-Group C: Georgia (1-1), Poland (1-1), Belgium (1-0), Bulgaria (1-0) and Portugal (0-2).

 

Photo: bkventspils.lv, L&J fotostudija