The final night of the second round of qualification (QR2) for EuroBasket 2015 is in the books and we now know which 13 teams will progress from this stage to join the 11 teams who have already qualified for next year’s tournament. Emmet Ryan rounds up the action for the final time.
Remember, the seven group winners and six best group runners-up progress to next year’s competition to join the 11 teams already qualified.
We’re going to go group by group to tell you who progressed and who is out (thanks Oprah). First, a reminder of the teams already through before we even got to QR2: Croatia, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Lithuania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Ukraine, and Turkey. Estonia won the first qualifying round while the other 10 are in because they are in the 2014 FIBA World Cup of Basketball. And now, the teams that will join them.
Group A
Qualified: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland
Tonight: Even without Mirza Teletovic, Bosnia had too much for Iceland as they won 78-70. The defeat however wasn’t severe enough to dent Iceland’s goal average, the chief tie-breaker in deciding which runner up misses out so they are going to EuroBasket. This will be Iceland’s first ever appearance in EuroBasket.
Group B
Qualified: Israel, Netherlands
Tonight: A stirring comeback by Bulgaria to beat Israel 69-61 had no bearing on the major matters as Israel had already punched a ticket to the finals. The Netherlands will join them after winning 68-55 over Montenegro. Roeland Schaftenaar stepped up big again with 15 points and 8 rebounds for the Dutch.
Group C
Qualified: Poland, Germany
Tonight: Germany crushed Luxembourg 118-66 on the road but Poland was forced to work for its win, beating Austria 90-85 in overtime. Both teams secured their spots tonight.
Group D
Qualified: Belgium, FYR Macedonia
Tonight: FYR Macedonia secured qualification with a 72-66 home win over Belarus. Belgium confirmed top spot in the group with a 77-63 win over Denmark. Fun fact, the Danes had the youngest team in qualifying.
@ChristopheEPcom pic.twitter.com/FjWefgTmkW
— Jačas (@sJacas) August 27, 2014
Group E
Qualified: Georgia, Czech Republic
Tonight: Hungary are the odd team out of three tied on 4-2 records. An 83-68 win tonight over Czech Republic wasn’t enough to move out of third spot, sending the Czechs to EuroBasket. Georgia booked their place in the finals with a 71-59 win over Portugal.
Group F
Qualified: Latvia
Tonight: Latvia finished the group with a perfect 6-0 record. Their 82-70 road win over Romania also means that despite a 4-2 record and second place in the group, Romania miss out on EuroBasket 2015 as the second placed team with the worst goal average. Sweden beat Slovakia 83-77 to secure third place, both teams were already eliminated before tonight’s game.
Group G
Qualified: Italy, Russia
Tonight: Italy punched their ticket at the second opportunity, although in truth the tie-breakers were so heavily in their favour that tonight’s 80-65 win over Switzerland wasn’t truly necessary. Russia take second spot and a place in EuroBasket in second place with a 2-2 record.
And just to remind you what 13 teams progress from QR2
The teams that qualify to #EuroBasket2015 from the 2nd QR are: BIH, ISL, ISR, NED, POL, GER, BEL, MKD, GEO, CZE, LAT, ITA, RUS.
— EuroBasket (@EuroBasket) August 27, 2014
FIBA Europe has already announced that it was waiting until the end of QR2 to announce the venue(s) for EuroBasket 2015 to replace original hosts Ukraine. Now we know the field, the wait shouldn’t be too much longer.
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