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Magnificent in self-sacrifice, Switzerland defeated Austria (80-61) and took the lead in Group A of the Euro 2025 pre-qualifiers.
- by
- Jeremy Santallo
(Fribourg)
Natan Jurkovitz warming up.
@Swiss Basketball
We would have expected to see Michel-Ofik Nzege, absent in the victory against Ireland because insufficiently recovered after his shoulder injury suffered on Wednesday, start the game to lock the rebound. But like Thursday, the Greek coach Ilias Papatheodorou chose to trust Killian Martin on position 4. It was good for him since the Union Neuchâtel player scored 7 points to launch Switzerland perfectly in this match. extremely important (8-0 then 15-6).
Valuable in the pass, still aimed at his Friborg Olympic teammate Arnaud Cotture, Robert Zinn hastily suffered two personal fouls. Sent to the front, his replacement Marco Portannese took time to get going, between lost ball and poor defense. But at the start of the 2nd quarter, the former Geneva Lions player found the target behind the arc before cleverly challenging a slower opponent to offer the biggest gap of the first half to Switzerland (28-18).
«Yes»
During the defeat (80-64) in the suburbs of Vienna, Papatheodorou had chosen to protect access to the circle on the Austrian pick-and-roll. The change in strategy was total since this time, its players had to change vis-à-vis on all the screens. In this configuration, Michel-Ofik Nzege excelled, playing eye to eye with the opposing backs. Moreover, it was the entire Swiss bench that responded, offering precious minutes of recovery to the holders until halftime (40-36).
Suddenly, Roberto Kovac came back like a UFO from the locker room. Accurate at long distance, devilishly fast on his first step, the Massagno shooter planted 10 points in the 3rd quarter. During these ten minutes, the Swiss were heroic defensively. They conceded no basket for seven minutes – except for three free throws! With the score at 55-39, Ilias Papatheodorou was seen clenching his fists and Natan Jurkovitz shouting ‘yes’ after pushing the Austrians after 24 seconds. And as Marco Portannese also caught fire, Switzerland flew to the scoreboard (66-43).
It was necessary to win by more than 16 points to recover 1st place in group A but 7 minutes from the final buzzer, the gap was even 26 units after a nice number from Killian Martin in the racket. Immense in defense, until stealing the leather in the hands of the Austrian mountain Rados, Natan Jurkovitz then lacked lucidity in wanting to send Arnaud Cotture to the alley-oop, illustrating the Swiss feverishness to bend this part. But the Olympic winger and then Marko Mladjan ensured victory and 1st place in the group!
Hall of Saint-Léonard, Fribourg. 1417 spectators.
Referees: MM. Papapetrou, Manheim et Perciavalle.
Suisse: Zinn (8 points), Kovac (18), N. Jurkovitz (4), Martin (9), Cotture (7); then Portannese (15), Mbala (4), M. Mladjan (9), Nzege (4), Kozic (2). Coach: Ilias Papatheodorou
Austria: Vujosevic (10 points), Klepeisz (13), Murati (14), Mbemba (8), Rados (9); then Guttl (0), Ogunsipe (4), Szkutta (0), Ersek (0), Lohr (3). Coach: Raoul Korner