Luka runs wild, scores 47 and leads Slovenia past France
“Luka is obviously a fantastic player,” said French center Rudy Gobert, one of the best defenders in the world.
Dončić scored 27 of the first 36 points for Slovenia, hitting 15 of 23 field goals, and had seven rebounds and five assists.
Eddy Terrace scored 63 points for Belgium against Albania in 1957. This is the only EuroBasket appearance in which someone scored more points than Dončić did on Wednesday; the previous second best was 46 by Greece’s Nikos Galis against Sweden in 1983.
Antetokounmpo scored the most for Ukraine at this year’s EuroBasket, entering Wednesday, with 41 goals.
Goran Dragić broke the tie with a layup for 1:20, which gave Slovenia the lead for good (4:1). This was a measure of payback for Slovenia, which lost to France in the Olympic semi-finals last summer at the Tokyo Games.
“Luka had a great night,” said Slovenian coach Aleksander Sekulič. “He spoils us so much. We think this is normal. This is not normal.”
Dragić scored 14 for Slovenia. Gobert scored 19 for France (3-2), which got 15 from Evan Fournier, 13 from Amath M’Baye, 11 from Elie Okob and 10 points and 10 rebounds from Thomas Heurtel.
The last round of group play began on Wednesday. There are four groups of six teams in each, and the top four clubs in each group – a total of 16 teams – move on to Berlin for the knockout stage, which starts on Saturday.
LITHUANIA 87, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 70
Lithuania goes to the elimination part of EuroBasket.
Marius Grigonis scored 16 points, Jonas Valanciunas finished with 13 points and 15 rebounds, and Lithuania topped Bosnia and Herzegovina – winner-take-all, meaning which club will advance from Group B to the round of 16.
Arnas Butkevicius and Ignas Brazdeikis each scored 13 points and Domantas Sabonis had 12 for Lithuania, which survived its second straight must-win game.
Dzanan Musa was the top scorer for Bosnia and Herzegovina with 22 points (2:3), and Jusuf Nurkić added 15.
A 30-10 run in the second and third quarters was key for Lithuania (2-3). The game was tied at 32 before Lithuania took a 62-42 lead early in the third quarter.
Christian Sengfelder scored 22 points, Maodo Lo added 21, and Germany (4-1) easily defeated Hungary (0-5) to prepare for the trip from Cologne to Berlin.
Niels Giffey scored 19, Andreas Obst 16 and Franz Wagner 15 points in just 12 minutes for Germany.
Zoltan Perl was the best in Hungary with 15 points, Szilard Benke scored 13, Adam Somogyi scored 11, and David Vojvoda scored 10.
In Tbilisi, Georgia, Lorenzo Brown’s jumper at 2:11 gave Spain (4-1) the lead and held on for a group victory over Turkey (3-2).
Willy Hernangomez led Spain with 15 points, while Brown finished with 11. Spain will meet Lithuania in the Round of 16 this weekend.
Cedi Osman scored 20 for Turkey, Furkan Korkmaz scored 16, and Alperen Sengun scored 14. Turkey will also play in the knockout rounds.
Belgium made it to the group stage (3:2), Retin Obasohan scored 25 points and Manu Lecomte scored 20.
Maxime De Zeeuw scored 13 for Belgium.
For Bulgaria (1:4), which was eliminated, Aleksandar Vezenkov scored 26 points and 13 rebounds, and Dee Bost scored 18.
MONTENEGRO 81, GEORGIA 73
Montenegro (3-2) clinched the final qualifying spot in Group A, edging Georgia (1-4) behind 22 points from Igor Drobnjak and 17 from Kendrick Perry.
Bojan Dubljević added 10 for Montenegro.
For Georgia, Thaddus McFadden scored 16, Alexander Mamukelashvili 15, Duda Sanadze and Giorgi Shermadini 14 each.
First-round play ends in Groups C and D as the 60-game group stage ends.
Group C: Croatia (2-2) v Ukraine (3-1), Estonia (1-3) v Greece (4-0), Britain (0-4) v Italy (2-2). Croatia, Ukraine, Greece and Italy advance to Berlin and the knockout stage. Greece could be one of two teams – Serbia being the other – with a chance of making it through group play without defeat.
Group D: Israel (2-2) v Czech Republic (1-3), Serbia (4-0) v Poland (3-1), Finland (2-2) v Netherlands (0-4). The winner of Israel-Czech Republic goes to Berlin, the winner of Serbia-Poland will win the group (both are already guaranteed places in the knockout rounds), and Finland is also locked in the knockout round.
There are no matches on Friday.
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