Armenia defend home court against Sweden; Musa explodes for 32 in Sarajevo

YEREVAN (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Pre-Qualifiers) - Ryan Boatright kept Armenia‘s ship steady in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Pre-Qualifiers, notching up their second win in Group A with an excellent performance against Sweden at the Mika Sport Complex in Yerevan on Saturday evening.

After getting their campaign off to a positive note against Slovak Republic, the Niksa Bavcevic-coached side improved to a 2-0 mark with an 82-69 victory, with Boatright scoring 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field to lead the strong-arm Armenian men.

Andrew Chrabaszcz collected 18 points and 8 rebounds, while Lucas Fischer chipped in with a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds. Marcus Eriksson had a team-high 15 points for the visitors from Sweden.

In the other Group A game of the day, Dzanan Musa put on a show in Sarajevo with 32 points in 26 minutes to help Bosnia and Herzegovina defeat Slovak Republic 84-71 to move to 1-1 in the standings after an opening-day loss to Sweden.

Aleksandar Lazic was the team's other big contributor with 15 points and 7 rebounds, while 37-year-old Radoslav Rancik collected 12 points, and 8 rebounds for Slovak Republic.

Elsewhere, the Netherlands repeated their FIBA EuroBasket 2017 Qualifiers success on the road in Austria, defeating the home team 79-72 to open their Group B campaign on a positive note behind a 22-point and 5-rebound performance of Worthy De Jong.

Charlon Kloof added 17 points for the Dutch side, who spent most of the game up by a few points, while Jakub Poltl couldn't keep Austria, now 1-1, on track in spite of collecting 24 points and 5 rebounds.

Estonia came away with a clutch 80-76 triumph on the road in Skopje, turning around a 13-point deficit against Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in Group C.

Rain Veideman had a productive game with a game-high 26 points to his name, as big man Kristjan Kangur finished with 14 points and 6 rebounds in the side‘s Pre-Qualifiers debut. Vojdan Stojanovski equaled Veideman‘s output with 26 points and also added 4 steals for the home side.

Meanwhile, the Pavel Marinov-led Bulgaria improved to a 2-0 record in Group D with a 78-68 victory against Belarus in Botevgrad, with the forward putting up 22 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists.

Aleksandar Vezenkov double-doubled with 15 points and 15 rebounds, while Georgiev chipped in with 11 points, 5 boards and 3 steals. Vitaliy Liutych was the top scorer for Belarus with 19 points in their opening game.

FIBA