Slovenia is in the quarterfinals of the European Championship. Coach Aleksandar Sekulić's team struggled against Italy in the round of 16 despite a good performance, but won 84:77 (29:11, 50:40, 72:56). Luka Dončić shone with 42 points and ten rebounds. Slovenia will face Germany in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
When the Italian camp learned that their opponent in the round of 16 was Slovenia, it seemed as if they were scared. They spoke of Luka Dončić with great respect, perhaps even awe, as well as the rest of the eleven of coach Aleksandar Sekulić. And the fears of coach Gianmarco Pozzecco and his charges quickly came true. Dončić was in an exceptional mood for the game, scoring 18 consecutive points for Slovenia in the middle of the first quarter, and by the main break he was already at 30. The others also made their contribution, especially in defense, which this time was at a high level. The advantage of the 2017 European champions was already 19 points at the beginning of the second quarter, but then it decreased to ten by the main break.
Round of 16, Saturday: Turkey - Sweden 85:79 (20:23, 37:42, 63:55, Sengun 24, Osman 17; Hakanson 16, Gaddefors and Larsson 15 each), Germany - Portugal 85:58 (17:12, 31:32, 52:51, Schröder and Wagner 16 each; Queta 18, Williams 8), Lithuania - Latvia 88:79 (28:18, 47:37, 66:54, Valička 21, Sirvydis 18; Porzingis 34, Lomazs 21), Serbia - Finland 86:92 (24:28, 48:44, 66:68, Jokić 33, Jović 20; Markkanen 29, Jantunen 15), Sunday: Poland – Bosnia and Herzegovina 80:72 (14:23, 40:44, 62:61, Loyd 28, Ponitka 19; Nurkić 20, Roberson 19), France – Georgia 70:80 (20:24, 37:38, 54:58, Francisco 14, Yabusele 12; Šengelija and Baldwin 24 each), Italy – Slovenia 77:84, at 20.45: Greece – Israel.
Quarterfinals, Tuesday: Lithuania – Greece/Israel, Turkey – Poland, Wednesday: Germany – Slovenia, Finland – Georgia.
Italy only seriously threatened to turn the tables at the beginning of the second half, when they came within six points of the deficit. But Slovenia's response was fierce. With a partial score of 9:0, they quickly extinguished their opponent's hopes. The only slight concerns were a strong blow to Aleksej Nikolić's muscle, which sent him to the bench for a few minutes, and problems with Rok Radović's knee, who felt the pain without contact. Slovenia reached its 67th point before the end of the third quarter, thus exceeding the average points allowed by Italy to its opponents in the group stage in less than 30 minutes and thus being the best defensive team of the tournament. Italy, with good defense, came within a full point of the deficit in the final, but Slovenia held on and looked forward to advancing to the quarterfinals.
From the very beginning, we believed in winning and advancing to the quarterfinals of the European Championship. At the same time, we knew during the match that the Italians would bite until the end and that they would not give up. They beat us well in defense, but we resisted them with physical play, which was the plan from the very beginning. It is nice that we have progressed, even more so because this is my first major competition in the national team jersey. Luka Dončić? It is nice to watch him, and it is even nicer to play with him, said a satisfied Martin Krampelj after the victory. The match was very physical and tiring. Italy is a difficult opponent who has many weapons in attack. In the end, we endured, stuck together and helped each other. Now we have therapy and preparation for the quarterfinals, where Germany awaits us with an extremely high quality. But from the first day of preparation, I have been repeating that we believe in a medal and with this mentality we will go into the quarterfinals. We are doing well, the chemistry is at its peak."Sometimes we fight, but only to progress," added Luka Dončić.
