EuroBasket 2015: Estonia makes plans for Ukraine trip

EuroBasket 2015

In front of a home crowd of an estimated 7,500, Estonia used a huge first quarter to put away challenger Bulgaria in the second game of a home and away series to determine the winner of the EuroBasket 2015 1st Qualification Round with a 61:49 score. The 12-point margin was more than enough to cover the three-point spread that Bulgaria earned in the first game.

Congratulations to Estonia for qualifying. The crowd was unbelievable. It was a very good game from them and they used maximum power. At first we had a shock and afterwards it was hard to recover. We are not happy, but we had some good moments during this stage.
–Bulgaria Head Coach Konstantin Papazov

EuroBasket 2015Estonia was led by Kristjan Kangur’s 8 points and 6 rebounds, as well as 10 points each by Rain Veidemann and Gert Dorbek. Bulgaria got 13 points and 7 assists out of Kaloyan Ivanov.

A big thanks to our players and staff. The players have worked hard for this and now it paid off. We will go to Ukraine in two years.
–Estonia Head Coach Tiit Sokk

The Estonians came out on fire and put on an early show for the friendlies in attendance, getting out to an 18:5 lead by mid-way through the first frame. By the time the initial 10 had run out, the hosts had built a 15-point advantage, 25:10, and just needed to maintain to book the trip to the Ukraine.

Bulgaria got as close as 12 in the second quarter, but also fell as far as 17 down, only to settle for the same 15-point spread with a 14-all tie in the second 10. The clubs retreated to their respective dressing rooms with Estonia up 39:24.

The difference grew to 20 early in the third, with Estonia hitting the first five to get up 44:24. Bulgaria hung around and made a game out of it, cutting the margin to 12 late in the third, closing out the frame down 50:37.

The fourth was more of the same with the clubs battling to an 12:11 score in favor of Bulgaria, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the hole they dug for themselves in the first quarter.

We won the tournament and the prize is great – we qualified to EuroBasket. And of course the fans were our 6th, 7th and 8th man on the court!
–Estonia Player Tanel Sokk

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