The Croatian national basketball team achieved its second victory in the third match of the European Championship qualifiers.
In February of this year, after an away defeat against France 61:73 and a home victory over Cyprus 93:62, Josip Sesar’s team defeated the national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina 89:76 in the Dražen Petrović Hall.
It started great for the Croatian national team, which took a 19:6 lead with five three-pointers hit from five attempts (Jallen Smith three, Dario Drežnjak and Filip Bundović one each). The visitors managed to stop the onslaught of the Croats, who were kept at a decent distance by Luka Božić with ten consecutive points, including a three-pointer – the sixth Croatian score. After ten minutes of the game, the score was 30:19.
After two and a half minutes of the game in the second quarter, Bosnia and Herzegovina got closer to 32:27. Božić stopped their rush. After a three-pointer by Borna Kapusta, Croatia went to +8 (37:29). However, Bosnia and Herzegovina did not give up; they got closer to 37:33, and Luka Šamanić made the eighth Croatian three-pointer from ten attempts to lead the Croatians to 40:34. The attacking jump of the visitors was an unsolvable enigma for the Croatian defense and kept the game tied. After connected three-pointers by Amar Gegić, Edin Atić, and Amar Alibegović, Bosnia and Herzegovina took the lead 44:48. By the end of the half, Croatia retaliated with two three-pointers (Smith and Mateo Drežnjak) to take the lead 50:48. Ten Croatian 3-pointers and 12 offensive rebounds by Bosnia and Herzegovina best depict the kind of basketball we saw in the first half.
With Božić’s three-pointer, Croatia escaped to 55:50 in the second half’s opening. After basket-for-basket play, the same player scored another three-pointer that gave Croatia a breather and separated them to a seven-point advantage (62:55). Complete control of the rebound brought the guests back to just two minus points, thanks to a three-pointer by Aleksandar Lazić (62:60). Still, the unstoppable Božić answered back with a three-pointer and two shots for 67:60. Dario Drežnjak followed up with a foul basket and Smith with his fifth 3-pointer from the sixth attempt at the end of the third quarter, for a big +13 (73:60).
Bosnia and Herzegovina opened the last quarter with a storm and with a series of 6:0 for (73:66) forced Croatia’s coach Josip Sesar to time out and return Božić to the game. Kapusta scored a three-pointer for Croatia’s new double-digit advantage (80:70), but a solid defense opened up attacking opportunities for the guests, which led them to 76:72 in the blink of an eye. 72. Soon, Smith made another significant move; he stole the ball, Božić accompanied his attack on the basket, and Croatia again scored (81:72). Filip Bundović (84:74) continued Croatia’s crazy evening of three points. What followed was a fight for as big a goal difference as possible on one side and a smaller one on the other, which brought a lot of mistakes. But Smith finished the job with a three-pointer at the end of time for the final 89:76.
Luka Božić played an all-round match. He scored 25 points, along with nine rebounds and three assists. Jallen Smith scored 22 points, hitting seven three-pointers on 11 attempts. Filip Bundović added 12 points, and Dario Drežnjak 10 points. Amar Gegić was the best for BiH with 18 points, eight rebounds, and two assists.
On Sunday, November 24, Croatia will be the guest of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo’s Mirza Delibašić (Skenderija) Hall from 6 p.m. In that match, Mario Hezonja and Danko Branković will strengthen the Croatian ranks, while Džanan Musa will play for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team.
Considering the situation in group E, from which the teams that finish first and second go to the Eurobasket, it is clear that the matches between these teams will decide who will join the French at the European Championship. The French have a win-loss record of 3:0, Croatia 2:1, and Bosnia and Herzegovina 1:2. Cyprus is winless. Still, as a co-host of the European Championship, it is a sure participant in the finals.
In the last cycle of qualifications (February 21 and 24, 2025), Croatia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina will have Cyprus and France as opponents.
At the very start we had a good rhythm. The biggest problem, and I warned about it earlier, was the working part, that is, the attacking jump, which caused us problems. In the second half, we changed that and turned the game around, naturally with a very good offensive game. The individual quality of Jaleen Smith and Luka Božić carried us through the entire game, and the inspired last quarter of Filip Bundović helped the team a lot to go to Sarajevo with 13 points. I think that this is only the first half, one should not be euphoric. It is necessary to analyze well and make some new tactical options, especially for that offensive jump where they have dominance and go to Sarajevo to play the match bravely. We go there encouraged by the victory, but we must not think about the point difference.
Tomorrow evening Hezonja will join us, and on Saturday Branković. It’s going to be different because if you look at the last qualifying window, 70% of the offense was created by Musa. Therefore, it was difficult for us to prepare for this game because we did not know the way to distribute the balls. It is difficult to arrange everything in two training sessions, there is a large amount of information and some things the staff and I decided not to tell the players and left them for the second match. The next match will certainly be different, especially with Musa and Hezonja, who are two distinct individuals who take over the game and the team, and they will certainly be the main figures of those matches – Josip Sesar, Croatia Head Coach
We more or less controlled the game throughout the whole match, except for the problem with the offensive jump in the first half, but in the end with a good percentage in the three-point attack, control of the defensive jump and good physical defense in the first half, we deservedly won – Filip Bundović, Croatian player
SOURCE: Croatian Basketball Federation
