Levice (Slovakia), July 3, LETA. On Sunday, the Latvian men’s basketball team concluded the first stage of the 2023 World Cup qualification with a victory over the Slovakian team.
Latvia beat Slovakia 93:60 (26:10, 25:13, 19:23, 23:14).
The home team Dalibors Hlivāks started the game with an accurate long shot, to which the Latvians responded with ten unanswered points, Dairis Bertāns making two three-point shots.
Andrejs Gražulis made a ten-point difference in the middle of the sixth minute with a two-point shot – 16:6, but Latvia finished the first ten minutes with a 16-point advantage (26:10).
The second ten minutes also started with a long shot by the home team, to which everyone responded with eight points, after two free throws by March Steinberg in the 14th minute, the lead exceeded 20 points (34:13).
At the start of the second half, Roberts Stumbris also made his debut in the national team, as the 12th player on Sunday, but the Slovaks started the offensive, making a breakthrough with 10:2, reducing the score difference to 19 points (34:53).
Although Dāvis Bertāns scored a 30-point lead (68:38) for the first time in the game with a long shot less than three minutes before the end of the quarter, Slovakia won the quarter with 23:19.
Two minutes and a second before the end of the match, Stumbris scored the first points for the national team with free throws, reaching 89:60.
Dāvis Bertāns became the top scorer in the Latvian national team with 23 points. Gražulis collected 19 points and five rebounds, while Klaavs Chavars added 15 rebounds to 12 points.
For the home team, Tomás Pavelka was the only one to exceed ten points, scoring 11 points and grabbing seven rebounds.
In Group A, Latvia has five wins in six matches, Belgium and Serbia have won three each in five matches, while Slovakia has experienced six losses and has already completed the selection cycle.
In the previous game, the Latvians defeated Serbia at home on Thursday with a result of 66:59 and secured the first place in the qualification group A. Meanwhile, the Slovaks recognized the superiority of Belgium at home with 57:83.
Ten players who forged the victory over Serbia on Thursday, as well as two new players, went to Levica. Rolanda Šmitas and Andrzej Pasečniks were replaced by Mārcis Šteinberg and potential debutant Roberts Stumbris.
In preparation for the 2023 World Cup qualification matches, the Latvian national team played two test matches against Lithuania. In the first match in Riga, Latvia was superior, winning with 70:52, but in the second, the Lithuanians were successful, defeating the Latvian national team with 98:62.
In the second stage, the top three teams from Group A will face the teams from Group B (Greece, Turkey and Great Britain). Two matches each will be held in August, November and February 2023. The three best teams out of six will qualify for the final tournament.
The 12 best European teams (three from each group of the second stage) will get tickets to the final tournament of the World Cup, which will be held in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines in September 2023. The teams that will remain in the fourth places in the groups in the first stage will participate in the pre-qualification tournament of the 2025 European Championship.
The list of Latvian men’s basketball national team candidates for the 2023 World Cup qualification matches:
Toms Leimanis (Klaipedas “Neptunas”, Lithuania), Artūrs Žagars (Badalonas “Joventut”, Spain), Dairis Bertāns, Andrzej Pasečniks (both – Sevilla “Real Betis”, Spain), Rihards Lomažs (Denizli “Yukatel Merkezefend”, Turkey) , Artūrs Kurucs (Vitoria “Baskonia”, Spain), Artis Ate (“VEF Riga”), Jānis Bērziņš (“Larisa”, Greece), Dāvis Bertāns (Dallas “Mavericks”), Rolands Šmits (“Barcelona”, Spain), Andrejs Gražulis (Trento “Dolomiti Energia”, Italy), Klāvs Čavars (Bydgoszcz “Astoria”, Poland), Roberts Stumbris (Gliwice GTK, Poland).
The list of candidates for the Slovak men’s basketball team for the 2023 World Cup qualifiers:
David Abraham, Martin Bachan, Boris Bojanovski, Šimon Krajčovič (all – “Levice”), Marek Doležaj (Saloniku “Iraklis”, Greece), Tomáš Pavelka (“Palencia”, Spain), Dalibor Hlivak (“Spišska Nova Ves”), Matejs Majerčaks (Ostrava, Czech Republic), Dávids Novak (Nymburk, Czech Republic), Lukas Bolek (Lučenec), Šimon Turza (Svitas Iskra), Samuel Volárik (Komarno), Michael Fusek (no club) ).
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