Slovenia, Finland and Hungary won friendly matches
Author: Johnny Asconis/ [email protected]
Slovenia beat Montenegro 70-52, Celje defeated Montenegro on Saturday night, and both national teams had wins against the Netherlands on Thursday and Friday.
Head coach Alexander Sekuku split playing time, resulting in even scoring. Krka big man Jurij Magura and JDA Dijon’s Gregor Hrovat shared a team-high nine points. Partizán NIS player Gregor Klass scored eight points.
The guests led 23-6 at the end of the first period, and in the last minutes of the preseason they again fell behind by double digits. UCAM Murcia’s Nemanja Radovic and Valencia’s Jonah Radbach scored 16 and 14 respectively.
Luka Doncic and Goran Dragic were also left out, but they cannot be used against, Slovenia will play Ukraine next Saturday in Istanbul. Montenegro travels to Serbia on the same day.
Several national teams played on Saturday when Finland defeated Belgium 80-71 and Hungary defeated Georgia 78-75 in preparation for the qualifiers for the 2022 EuroBasket and the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
After losing Thursday’s warm-up game 75-71, Lassi Duovi’s team opened up a double-digit advantage in the third quarter, which was helped by the support of the Tampere audience. Tennessee’s Olivier Nakahmova led the way with 19 points. Boxy Manresa’s Elias Valtonen had 15 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists. Captain Shawn Huff scored seven of his nine points in the first quarter.
In the losing team, Philo Ostende Pierre-Antoine Gillet stood out with 18 points, six rebounds and two steals. His teammate Haris Bratanovic scored 16 points in a long debut in the basketball Champions League. After splitting games with Finland, the Lions are scheduled to host Germany in their next game on Wednesday.
Hungary played behind closed doors for 45 minutes in Kecskemét, Friday’s victory was followed by an 89-88 victory over Georgia. Ádám Hanga, after playing at the international level for the first time since September 2016 yesterday, sits in the lower half of the series. On Friday, another domestic warm-up game against Slovakia follows, and Georgia and head coach Ilias Juros return to Tbilisi for a training camp.
Image source: FIBA.BASKETBALL