The blue-and-yellows managed to make a comeback, but lost minimally in the very end
Ukraine national basketball team was defeated by Portugal in a nominally home qualifying match European Championship 2025 — 77:79.
The fight took place at Arena Riga in the capital of Latvia. Vitaly Stepanovsky’s team was inferior in the score throughout almost the entire match. At the end of the first quarter, the Lusitanians managed to gain a 10-point advantage, and during the second ten minutes their advantage reached +19.
However, the blue-yellows managed to pull themselves together after the long break and had an extremely strong third quarter, during which they were able to win back the gap.
The intrigue lasted until the last moment. Throughout the last quarter, Portugal led with a slight advantage, but a minute before the end, Ukraine was able to take the lead – 76:74. And yet, the final word remained with Mario Gomes’s team – 79:77.
Let us note that five Ukrainians immediately scored at least 10 points, and Alexander Kovlyar scored a double-double.
With two defeats, Ukraine closes the standings of Group A. Let us recall that in the first round the blue-yellows lost away to Slovenia (73:87). To qualify for the EuroBasket finals, the Ukrainian national team must take one of the first three places in the group.
Stepanovsky’s team will hold the next two qualifying matches in November 2024.
- EuroBasket 2025. Qualification. Group A
Ukraine – Portugal — 77:79 (16:26, 16:21, 27:15, 18:17)
Ukraine: Kovlyar (17 + 10 assists), Voynalovich (16), Bobrov (12 + 8 rebounds), Pustovoy (11), Petrov (10 + 7 rebounds), Tkachenko (6), Krutous (3), Zotov (2)
Source: Sportarena
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