MUNICH (Germany) - Austria became the first team to lock up a spot in the Second Round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 European Pre-Qualifiers, while Switzerland are also still perfect and Ireland made it two from two in the window.
Sylven Landesberg put up another fantastic game as he celebrates his return to the national team for the first time in five years with 25 points in a 129-80 road victory over Armenia for a 3-0 record in Group C.
Austria were already leading 39-22 after 10 minutes and the Alpine nation conceded only 6 points in the second quarter before finishing with a remarkable 22-of-33 from downtown. Luka Brajkovic scored 20 points, Timo Lanmuller added 18 points and Bogic Vujosevic chipped in 11 assists.
Chris Jones tallied 22 points and 7 assists and Andre Spight contributed 21 points as Armenia fell to 1-2 - still ahead of Albania, who did not play and are 0-2.
Switzerland showed they are still the frontrunners of Group A with a dominant 85-55 victory at Azerbaijan for a 4-0 record. The Swiss trailed for the first 15 minutes but then blew the game open with a 24-8 third quarter.
Toni Rocak paced five Switzerland players in double figures with 19 points, Yoan Granvorka had 15 points and Selim Fofana picked up 14 points and 11 assists.
Orhan Haciyeva collected 15 points and 12 rebounds in the loss, which dropped Azerbaijan to 1-3.
In the other game in the group, Ireland completed a perfect window with a 91-85 home victory over Kosovo to knot their record at 2-2.
Neil Quinn scored 23 points with 13 rebounds, Sean Flood had 21 points and John Carroll contributed 12 points. Darden Berisha scored 15 points to lead Kosovo, who fell to 1-3.
In Group B, Romania were in control for most of the game and ended up securing an 84-78 win over Luxembourg to move into first place.
Kris Richard tallied 26 points and Emanuel Cate collected 17 points and 16 rebounds for Romania, who moved to 2-1. Ben Kovac scored 23 points and Clancy Rugg added 19 points in the loss for Luxembourg, who fell to 1-2 while idle Norway sit at 1-1.
With Austria already locked in a spot for the Second Round, the remaining nine teams in the three groups are fighting for three berths in the next stage. Those will go to each of the three group winners as well as the best-ranked runner-up.
Highs
Efficiency: 32 - Emanuel Cate (ROU) Points: 26 - Kris Richard (ROU) Rebounds: 16 - Emanuel Cate (ROU) Assists: 11 - Bogic Vujosevic (AUT), Selim Fofana (SUI) Steals: 3 - Mirel Dragoste (ROU), Thomas Grun (LUX), Ben Kovac (LUX) Blocks: 2 - Toni Rocak (SUI)
FIBA