Latvia, Serbia enjoy perfect February window to secure Second Round spots

MUNICH (Germany) - The picture in Group A looks a lot clearer now as Latvia and Serbia secured their places in the Second Round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Qualifiers.

Latvia and Serbia both moved to 3-1 by backing up Friday victories with Belgium not far behind despite dropping to 2-2 from a 2-0 start, while Slovakia remain winless.

It went down to the wire between Latvia and Belgium for the second time in four days with the hosts in Riga ending up 68-63 victors in another hard-fought battle. Latvia had been largely in control throughout without being completely comfortable and needed a strong finish down the stretch.

Retin Obasohan struggled from the field with a 1-of-7 start before a second triple put Belgium up 58-57 with 2:44 remaining in the winner-goes-through encounter. Jean-Marc Mwema connected with a fourth three shortly after, but that would be the visitors' last lead.

Rihards Lomazs had checked back in with immediate effect; a pullup jumper followed by an assist, a pair of free throws and another assist to spark a pivotal 10-3 spell to close out the game.

"We were cold-blooded at the end," stated Toms Leimanis. "We kept our cool, handled the pressure and that's what got us the win."

Latvia head coach Luca Banchi added: "Very important week with two great wins against the team that was leading the group. It's amazing the way the guys performed during those games. I appreciate the way the guys stayed together and overcame the struggles.

"It was a special and unique atmosphere. To have so many people in the arena makes me very proud and I cannot wait to be here again in June when we play against Serbia to become the leader in the group. That's what we want and that's what we want to prove."

Meanwhile, once again, Serbia did not have things all their own way as Slovakia pushed them even closer in Levice before they prevailed for a 71-63 success.

Aleksa Avramovic played a leading role with 24 points, 6 assists and 3 rebounds in 30 minutes with teenage forward Nikola Jovic stepping up with a contribution of 13 points and 7 rebounds amongst the starting five.

Dusan Ristic was the third - and final - player in double figures with 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting to go with 8 rebounds and the starting center gave deserving praise to the opposition.

"We have to give a lot of credit to the Slovakia national team," he said. "They started the game really well. It was obvious they did a really good job of scouting the game. Throughout the whole 40 minutes they played tough and hard.

"Overall, I thought we played a good game. In the end, we won by a comfortable lead so we are happy with the win."

The win was what mattered most and Serbia have bounced back from their surprise defeat away in Belgium with a double over Slovakia and will have the chance to avenge their sole loss on Gameday 6 - with all games being carried forward into the Second Round.

At the bottom of the pile, Slovakia know their hopes are now extremely slim at 0-4. Not only do they have to win both games in the final window, but they also need to take the head-to-head with Belgium meaning a required 26+ point victory on the road on Gameday 5.

"We need to learn from this, and keep going," mused Marek Dolezaj post-game after finishing with 17 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, while Vladimir Brodziansky netted 22 points in vain.

Belgium will be heavily favored to follow Latvia and Serbia through to the Second Round and those games in Window 3 will have a big impact on the next phase.

FIBA