The basketball team of Montenegro led against Brazil for more than 30 minutes, in the first half it had a maximum advantage of 13 points, but the finish of the match, i.e. the last five minutes, belonged to the rival, who managed to turn around and register a victory at the start of the Olympic qualification tournament in Riga .
Today, Montenegro lost to Brazil (81:72) in the "Riga Arena", and tomorrow (14:30) they have a decisive match against Cameroon. A victory over the African selection would probably guarantee the semi-finals, while in case of defeat, Montenegro would end its participation in the Baltic tournament.
Boško Radović's team opened the game well, led from the start, and played pretty solid in defense. After Petr Popović's three-pointer, Montenegro took the lead 17:9, and gained the first double-digit advantage when Dino Radončić put the ball in the basket - 19:9.
In those moments, everything went right for our selection - the lead was up to ten points on several occasions, and Montenegro had the maximum difference of 13 points (30:17) after Andrija Slavković's three-pointer.
Slavković had a good role in those moments, he scored seven points, and after his new points, our selection again had a plus 13 - 32:19.
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After that, Brazil scored six points through the net, approaching 32:25, and Marko Simonović hit a three-pointer and took Montenegro to a plus 10 - 35:25.
But today our selection had no solution for Bruno Kabokl, who played an outstanding game. On the wings of the center, which is at the exit door of Partizan, Brazil made a 7:0 series, reduced it to 35:32, and went to the break with a six-point deficit - 42:36.
At the start of the second half, Montenegro had problems in attack, the ball did not want to go into the basket, but even the rival in those moments did not manage to get any closer to our selection.
When Popović scored at 46:38, Montenegro had an eight-point advantage for the last time in the match. Brazil scored six points, again came to minus two (46:44), so that our team entered the last minute of the third quarter with plus seven (54:47, three-pointer by Simonović).
In the fourth quarter, Montenegro lost the advantage it had from the start of the game - after a point from Cabocl, Brazil took the lead for the first time (61:59), and then the veteran Uertas led the "cariocas" to plus four - 65:61.
That's when Montenegro managed to come back and take the lead for the last time - it made a 6:0 mini-series and reached 67:65 (points by Vučević, 5:39 to the end), but already in the next attack, Slavković fouled Majndl, who hit a three-pointer, and then an additional throw - 69:65.
Until the end of the match, the advantage was on the side of the Brazilians, and Uertas put an end to the game, with a three-pointer, after an offensive jump by Gi Santos.
Nikola Vučević was the most effective for Montenegro with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Simonović had 15 points, Popović 11, and Peri 10 (field shots 4/18).
In the Brazilian national team, Caboclo was the most effective with 25 points and nine rebounds. Huertas had 17 and Meindl 10 points.
BRAZIL - MONTENEGRO 81:72 (15:23, 21:19, 16:14, 29:16)
Riga - "Riga Arena". Viewers: 1.022. Judges: Zurapović (BiH), Kato (Japan) and Reno (USA).
Brazil: Dos Santos 4 (3-2), FELISIO, Didi, Benite, UERTAS 17, SANTOS 9 (4-3), Meindl 10 (3-2), Neto 7 (5-3), DE PAULA 1 (2- 1), Cardoso, Caboclo 25, DIJAS 8.
Montenegro: Baćović, Ilić 2, VUCEVIĆ 17 (2-2), HADŽIBEGOVIĆ, Slavković 7, RADONČIĆ 6 (2-2), Simonović 15, Jovanović, Drobnjak 2, POPOVIĆ 10 (3-3), Bogavac 2, PERI 11 (2-2).
Bonus video:
