Italy stunned two-time reigning champions Spain on Monday as the four quarter-final match-ups were set with Serbia and Croatia as the two top seeds at the 2013 EuroBasket Championships.
Alessandro Gentile poured in 25 points and Marco Belinelli collected 16 points and eight rebounds in Italy’s 86-81 overtime defeat of Spain.
“We went against the best team in the European Championship. We already knew how tough this game would be. But we deserved this win. We never gave up,” said Italian guard Pietro Aradori, who scored 17 points in helping Italy take third in Group F with a 3-2 record.
In the final eight, the Italians — looking for their first medal since 2003 bronze — will face off against Lithuania on Thursday.
Spain wasted a 32-point, 10-rebound showing from Marc Gasol in dropping their third game of the tournament and finishing fourth in the group at 2-3.
“I thought that we had the game under control for the first three quarters. We were playing good defence and we were able to run and get easy shots. But then in the fourth quarter… we stepped down defensively and couldn’t get back into the game,” said the Memphis Grizzlies center.
Spain’s quarter-finals opponent Wednesday will be Group E winners Serbia.
Spain came into the day wondering if they would even have a chance to defend their last two titles and still become the first nation to three-peat since Yugoslavia in 1977.
The winner between Spain and Serbia will take on the winners of Wednesday’s other quarter between hosts Slovenia and France.
Slovenia finished the group stage on a sour note, losing against Finland 92-76 in a hard fought game — though Slovenia knew beforehand that they were placed second in the group and Finland eliminated.
TURNING POINT: Luigi Datome, with all the calm in the world, hit a shot right at the buzzer to tie the scores at 70 and send the game into overtime; then, with 2:02 left in the extra period, Alessandro Gentile split the Spanish defence, capping it off with a lay-up on an 8-0 run that enabled Italy to take an 80-72 lead, their biggest since early in the second quarter of regulation.
GAME HERO: Pietro Aradori scored nine points in the final seven minutes of regulation to propel the Italian comeback, but Gentile, the youngest player on the floor, finished with a team-high 25 points on 11-for-11 free throw shooting. They overshadowed Marc Gasol, who picked up an international career-high and tournament-high 32 points and added 10 rebounds.
STATS DON'T LIE: Italy, the smallest team in the tournament in terms of size, out-rebounded Spain 48-38 and made up for their 17 turnovers by shooting 58.5% from two-point range.
EuroBasket 2013 takes a day off on Tuesday and will resume on Wednesday with the Serbia-Spain and Slovenia-France quarter-finals.
ITALY vs SPAIN GAME HIGHLIGHTS VIDEO
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your opinion is valuable. Share your thoughts. Ask and I Will Reply.