The most painful scenario happened in Riga - the basketball team of Montenegro finished the qualification tournament for the Olympic Games already in the group.
The "Reds" were already thinking about the semi-finals, and then they received the news - they were eliminated from the game to go to Paris after Cameroon made a surprise and defeated Brazil in the last duel in group B2 (77:74).
All three teams ended the group stage with a win and a loss each, and our selection was the weakest in the triangle - at the premiere it lost to Brazil by nine points (81:72), and then defeated Cameroon by plus four (70:66). . Turns out it wasn't enough...
The team of Boško Radović was waiting for either a defeat of Cameroon or a triumph of 15 or more points - then they would pass as second place and schedule a duel with Latvia, the host of the tournament and the leader of the second group.
The African team was in a rush in the first half, they had a series of 23:0, so at one point Brazil was on its knees - losing by 24 points (56:32). However, Aleksandar Petrović's team slowly overcame the deficit in the second half, and at the end missed the chance to celebrate and thus take Montenegro among the four best selections in Riga.
They had "carioca" several attacks to minus two, then with 75 seconds to go, they equalized at 74:74 points by Raul Benite from the free throw line, and the victory was brought to Cameroon by Jeremiah Hill, who hit a three-pointer at the beginning of the last minute.
He set the final score with 57 seconds to go. Hill was the most efficient in the winning team with 22 points, on the other side Leo Meindl stood out with 16...
In the semi-finals, Brazil plays the Philippines, who were second in Group B1, while Cameroon awaits a duel with Latvia. In addition to Montenegro, Georgia was also eliminated, on whose bench was the former coach of Budućnost Volija, Aleksandar Džikić.
Only the winner of the tournament will secure a place in the Olympic Games.
Bonus video:
