The opening game on day three of the European Championships Division C was the decider between Portugal and Greece to see who would claim the final spot in the semi-finals. Portugal, led by top scorer Márcio Dias 22 points, claimed the victory as they got their first win of the tournament, 74-46, to set up a semi-final clash against hosts Czech Republic in the afternoon.
In the second game of the day, Serbia also got their first win of the Championships with a 62-25 win over Hungary. However, this was not enough for them to claim a semi-final spot and will play in a three-way round robin with Greece and Hungary for the final placings of 5th/6th/7th.
Hungary were back on court again in the next match, and with the difficulty of back-to-back matches, they struggled to contain Greece who stormed to their first win, 101-29.
The first semi-final of the day was between Belgium and Ireland, and again it was the Irish’s finishing that let them down, struggling to convert their chances whilst Belgium were clinical, winning by a clear margin, 85-41, to book their place in the final.
In the other semi-final, Portugal came in with renewed confidence against the unbeaten Czech Republic team and kept the game close in the first quarter. A slow start to the second quarter though gave the home team a chance to open up a 14-point lead by half time and despite the Portuguese efforts in the second half, the Czech Republic remained undeterred and went on to win the game, 67-50, to meet Belgium in the final.
Portugal will face Ireland in the 3rd/4th play off.
Full results, statistics, and schedule.
