Slovak Republic 54-59 Luxembourg
A deserved win last night for our squad after a close game against the Slovak Republic National Team.
The 1st quarter was dominated by the opponent who started the game with full court man to man defence and kept the lead from the beginning till the end of the quarter (18-15). Our squad had difficulties to enter the game directly, our rhythm was slow and our defence was not aggressive enough to stop the Slovak offense.
In the second quarter our boys organized their lines in defence and offense and got some offensive rebounds that allowed us to score out of second chances. Our boys could tie the score at several occasions due to the good communication in defence and the quick transition in offense (18-18 ,21-21,23-23 then 25-25). Noe MELCHIOR and Malcolm KREPS managed to make a good execution of the set plays which helped our squad to create open spaces and take the lead by 5 points. Unfortunately, in the last two minutes, the opponent took advantage of the lack of concentration of our boys and succeeded to tie the score at the end of the first half (34-34) after a lucky 3 points shot with the buzzer.
In the second half, our guys were so determined to win this game, they took the lead from the beginning till the end of the third quarter due to an aggressive defence that made our opponent feel uncomfortable in offense. Felix VLAMINCK succeeded to hit 2 three points in a row, while Davy DAVID and Gil RECH assured all defensive rebounds. As a consequence, the gap increased to 12 points (34-46), but the lead was cut to 9 points at the end of this quarter.
The last quarter was as close as in the Macedonian game. The Slovakian team managed to come back in the game (50-53), as we missed many free throws and hesitated to attack their basket. Team effort in defence (aggressively and communication) plus the mental strength of our guys pushed us to a deserved win (54-59.
The will to win of the Luxembourgish Team was decisive in this game. A very important win for our boys who were struggling a bit in the previous games due to the lack of rotations after the injuries of Sam WOLTER and Chidi DELHOMMAIS.
MELCHIOR. N 18 pts
VLAMINCK. F 9 pts
RECH. G 3 pts
KREPS. M 11 pts
DAVID. D 16 pts
You can find all statistics under this link:
http://www.fiba.basketball/europe/u16b/2017/1708/Slovak-Republic-Luxembourg
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