Poland defeats Bosnia and advances to the quarterfinals of 'its' Eurobasket
The team that eliminated Spain with their victory over Georgia went home as planned at the first opportunity
Poland secured their spot in the quarterfinals of the EuroBasket with a hard-fought 80-72 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina. The 2022 semifinalists reacted after two consecutive defeats in the closing of the group stage and managed to reach two consecutive qualifications among the best eight teams, something they hadn't achieved since 1971.
The match started with Bosnia and Herzegovina clearly dominating, opening up a 13-2 lead and maintaining a ten-point advantage (31-21). Poland responded by closing in at 34-33, although the Bosnians went into halftime ahead 44-40. In the second half, the gap widened again to 55-47, but the Poles put together a 10-1 run to take the lead for the first time (57-56). After the third quarter ended 62-61, Poland went on an 11-2 streak to give them breathing room (76-68) with four minutes left. The defense held strong, and a shot by Jordan Loyd with 56 seconds on the clock sealed the victory.
Loyd was the standout player of the game with 26 points, including three three-pointers, in addition to contributing rebounds, assists, a steal, and a block. His EuroBasket performance was outstanding. Captain Mateusz Ponitka added 19 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 steals for a solid performance. For Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jusuf Nurkic scored 20 points and John Roberson 19 before leaving due to injury in the final minutes. With their stats, Nurkic climbed into the top five all-time scorers for his national team in EuroBasket.
The statistics reflected Poland's intensity, with 16 offensive rebounds and a clear advantage in points off turnovers (19-12). Additionally, the Polish team was more effective from the free-throw line, with 24 makes out of 29 attempts, compared to their rival's 11 out of 20.
With this win, Igor Milicic's team continues to approach the achievement from three years ago when they reached the semifinals for the first time since 1971. Their next challenge will be Turkey in the quarterfinals. Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the other hand, leave with the satisfaction of surpassing the group stage for the first time since 1993, albeit with the bitterness of being eliminated in Riga after just one knockout match.
This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Polonia se carga a Bosnia y se mete en cuartos de "su" Eurobasket
