The Bosnia and Herzegovina national basketball team was defeated by Poland 80:72 in the round of 16 of the European Championship.
The Bosnia and Herzegovina basketball team failed to achieve another feat and advance to the quarterfinals. Coach Adis Bećiragić’s team led most of the match, but the Poles played excellently in the second half and made a turnaround after which there was no turning back for the Bosnia and Herzegovina team.
The Bosnia and Herzegovina basketball team was in an excellent mood in terms of shooting at the beginning, and scored three three-pointers, and in the 4th minute they were already in a double-digit lead.
In the second half, Bosnia and Herzegovina reached the maximum 15-point difference at the beginning, but then Loyd came into play, who brought the Poles back to just a point behind with a series of points. However, Roberson responded in kind and with several consecutive points, with 100% shooting from the field, brought the Bosnia and Herzegovina a six-point lead. The Poles managed to score another basket in the last minute, so the half ended with a four-point lead for the BiH team.
In the second half, the BiH team’s play declined. The Poles stepped up their defense, making it increasingly difficult for the BiH basketball players to get into shooting positions, but they held the lead until the end of the third period, when the Poles made a run and tied the game for the first time, and soon after that, they took the lead for the first time in the game. In the ranks of Poland, Plutas came into play, scoring ten points in a row, and with Loyd’s baskets in the 34th minute, they had a maximum four-point lead up to that point. The key moment occurred in the 34th minute, when the best BiH player in today’s match, John Roberson, was injured, so Bećiragić was deprived of his services for the rest of the game. At that time, the collapse of the BiH team could already be felt, considering that the Poles very quickly gained an eight-point lead.
BiH had a chance to come back in the 38th minute, they came within four points of the deficit, but missed a three-pointer, while the Poles, on the other hand, scored and brought it back to six points. BiH lost the ball again, and Loyd scored to end the BiH team’s hopes of a turnaround.
Jusuf Nurkić was the most efficient player in the BiH team with 20 points, and John Roberson scored 19. In the Polish national team, Jordan Loyd scored 28 points, and Mateusz Ponitka 19 points.
Poland will play Turkey in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
