Portugal surprised Israel

Joao Gomes (photo: FIBA)

09-09-2007 20:39

Portugal recorded their first win in the qualifying round by beating Israel 94-85 this afternoon.

Both teams now have a 1-3 record in Group E and still hold a chance of qualifying to the quarter-finals.

After huge wins against Serbia and Croatia, some may have thought Israel would have an easier game against the team from Portugal - but that clearly wasn't the case.
"This victory is the confirmation of the work we have done in our preparation and of the

attitude we have, which is to go out and win every game," said Portugal's Joao Santos.

Valentyn Melnychuk's men, who have beaten Israel twice in the last qualifying campaign, were in control from the very first minute and never trailed thanks to a great preperation job by the veteran coach.

"All the things I was afraid about happened today. we started the game very bad, and didnt succeed in doing the things we like to do," said Israel's coach, Zvika Sherf. "Portugal dominated the boards as they do in every game against us." he refered to the 45-25 difference under the boards.
By the time Israel got their act together, Portugal already held an 8-0 lead and were well on the way to a 28-14 advantage at the end of the first quarter. Francisco Jordao collected nine points in that period alone while Yotam Halperin scored half of Israel's points.

The blue-and-white showed character and started their comeback early in the second quarter, but that didn't last too long.
Portugal got a boost from Mario-Gil Fernandes and Joao Santos who made big shots from behind the arc and recovered their double-digit lead, going into the locker room up 46-34.

Eliyahu continued to excel for Israel, but their opponents were just on fire.

Joao Gomes finished a half-court pass with a big alley-hoop and sliced the Israeli defense time after time as Portugal stretched their lead to 56-41 with 16 minutes left to play.

Gomes had another big alley-hoop before the end of the period and his team went into the final frame with a massive 65-48 advantage.
"We knew that Israel were a complicated team but we also knew we wanted to win and we played for the victory. We have fought hard," shared after the game Francisco Jordao.

But, with four minutes left, Santos committed his second unsportsmanlike foul in the game and had to leave.

Matan Naor came off the bench to sink his third three-pointer and make it just a nine point game, 73-64, with 3:36 to go which torubled Portugal slightly.
Israel's coach Zvi Sherf turned to a short line-up, and used a full-court pressure defense.
A minute later, Israel were only down by eight with the ball in their hands, but that’s where the comeback ended. Gomes' dunk awoke Israel from their comeback fantasy for good and set the Portuguese bench on fire.