Both teams were waiting for this game to realize the first win in the tournament.
The beginning was difficult for our squad as the Kosovo national team got the lead 0-6 within 3 minutes. Coach Basic took a time out and changed the defence which allowed our boys to steal many balls and transform it into successful fast breaks. Our squad could equalize at 11-11 and took the lead by 6 points (17-11) by the end of this quarter. The gap could have been bigger if we would have made our free throws.
In the second quarter, our boys forgot to box out and our opponent could score many easy points out of offensive rebounds. Furthermore, Kosovo got many free throws due to the high number of fouls committed by our player in defence. Still Luxembourg could keep the lead at first due to some interceptions (17-15). However, free throws allowed the team of Kosovo to get back in the game and to take the lead by 4 points at halftime (25-29).
In the 3rd quarter, Kosovo team started with a high aggressive defence and increased the gap to 10 points (35-25). But our boys found a way back and equalized again at 39-39 after some good defensive work and fast breaks. However, the easy lay-up missed (1vs 0 situation) and the 5th fouls of both Dino CEMAN and Gil RECH didn't help our coaching staff to find the balance on the court and for the 3rd game rotation was so difficult. The tall players of Kosovo succeeded to get 20 offensive rebounds, they scored 19 points out a of second chances and 25 free throws from a total of 45. These details made the difference in the game as the opponent managed to win their first game by 10 points (51-61).
TANI T. 5 pts
MELCHIOR N. 17 pts
VLAMINCK F. 11 pts
RECH G. 3 pts
KREPS M. 8 pts
DAVID D. 7 pts
You can find all statistics under this link:
http://www.fiba.com/europe/u16b/2017/1208/Luxembourg-Kosovo
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