EuroBasket - An unforgettable opening day

LJUBLJANA (EuroBasket/FIBA Basketball World Cup) - There was a little bit of everything on the first day of EuroBasket 2013 for the crowds that watched games in four Slovenian cities.

National sides launched their bids for glory on the old continent, and to qualify for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Six places for next year's 24-team event are going to be claimed at the EuroBasket.

There were surprises, close games and blowouts in the cities of Ljubljana, Jesenice, Celje and Koper.

Sides with lofty expectations crashed to heavy defeats, as Poland did to Georgia in Group C.

The Poles, despite the twin towers of Maciej Lampe and Marcin Gortat, caved in early against Georgia who were 84-67 winners.

The Georgians got terrific performances from a host of players, including center Giorgi Shermadini, Manuchar Markoishvili and Viktor Sanikidze.

Great Britain, a team with six Olympians but a side that was getting very little respect before the EuroBasket, beat Israel in overtime, 75-71, in Group A.

In Ljubljana, Israel looked as if they had the game in hand with a 66-57 advantage just 3:08 from the end but Britain fought back to force the extra period.

Kyle Johnson, who had a game-high 22 points, snapped a 71-71 tie with 15 seconds to go in the overtime with a lay-up.

Israel's chances of victory disappeared with an Afik Nissim turnover.

Andrew Sullivan iced the victory for Britain with two free-throws.

"We followed our game-plan," Johnson said. "We battled to the very end. We didn't hang our heads when we were down nine, we just kept chipping away and took our opportunities down the stretch.

"Everyone in the locker room stepped up big and we have to build on this going forward."

In the same pool, Ukraine scraped an 58-57 triumph over Belgium after getting two Eugene Jeter free-throws with three seconds to go.

Group A finished with the most unlikely result of all as Germany stunned France, 80-74.

Robin Benzing's 19 points were a game-high for the Germans, who gave Frank Menz a win on his EuroBasket debut as head coach.

Montenegro, who went undefeated in the Qualification Round last year, edged The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (MKD) in an 81-80 thriller in the 'group of death', Group B, despite falling behind by eight points in the fourth quarter.

Tyrese Rice made two free-throws for the winning points.

Rice and Suad Sehovic each scored 16 in the game.

"We just stayed with it," Rice said, "kept fighting, got the stops on defense and it got the win for us."

The day in Jesenice, where the Group B games are being played, had started with Latvia defeating Bosnia and Herzegovina by the score of 86-75, and it ended with Serbia upsetting Lithuania, 63-56.

Captain Nenad Krstic had 20 points and nine boards for the Serbians.

Two-time defending champions Spain rolled to a 68-40 Group C victory in Celje over Croatia, but those expecting Slovenia to dominate against the Czech Republic were wrong.

In front of a packed house, Slovenia had to hold on for dear life at the end and prevailed, 62-60.

Jan Vesely of the Czech Republic led all scorers with 17 points and Pavel Budinsky's team showed incredible grit and fight but missed a chance to tie the game twice in the last 30 seconds with Jiri Welsch missing a jumper and Lubos Barton then turning the ball over.

Tomas Satoransky was terrific for the Czechs with 12 points, four assists and four rebounds.

Jure Balazic's 11 points and eight rebounds were huge for Slovenia.

Both teams endured almighty struggles at the line, with the Czechs making only six of 15 free-throws and Slovenia 13 of 24.

In Group D, Finland provided further evidence of their rise in the international game with a 61-55 win over Turkey as Petteri Koponen scored 12 points and pulled down nine rebounds.

"We played hard and we were also lucky," Finnish coach Henrik Dettmann said.

"The players executed our game plan and they were very smart."

Also in Koper, Greece pulled away from Sweden, 79-51, and Russia fell to Italy, 76-69.

For full and in-depth coverage of EuroBasket 2013, go to the official website http://www.eurobasket2013.org.

FIBA