Croatia outgunned Spain after a major comeback

Monday, 08. August 2016 at 02:04

After being behind by a double digit margin already in the first half, Croatia managed to come up with a major comeback at the beginning of the Olympic Basketball Tournament and upset Spain in the derby game of the first round in Group B!

After being behind by a double digit margin already in the first half, Croatia managed to come up with a major comeback at the beginning of the Olympic Basketball Tournament and upset Spain in the derby game of the first round in Group B!

Croatia have upset many basketball experts with a fantastic performance in their opening game of Olympic Basketball Tournament in Rio de Janeiro and have managed to beat the reigning European champions Spain.

Spain opened the game strongly and have taken an 8-point lead after the first quarter and already reached the double digit advantage in the first half. However, the Croats fought back and with Mario Hezonja"s three-pointer at the end of first half, they have cut the deficit to only six points as the half time buzzer went on.

The major comeback happened in the final quarter, when the squad, led by Aleksandar Petrović, took the lead in the final minutes and managed to last until the end. With 72:70 on the scoreboard, Spain had the chance to take the game into overtime, but Dario šarić blocked Pau Gasol"s layup attempt.

Bojan Bogdanović was the top scorer of Croatia with 23 points, while another former Cibona player Darko Planinić added 11.

Olympic Basketball Tournament, Group B, Round 1, Sunday, 7.8. 2016:

CROATIA - Spain 72:70 (13:21, 19:17, 15:16, 25:16)
Bogdanović 23, Planinić 11; Gasol 26, Mirotić 19.

Standings:
TEAM
WINS
DEFEATS
POINTS
Lithuania 1 0 2
Croatia 1 0 2
Spain
0 1 1
Brasil 0 1 1
Argentina 0 0 0
Nigeria
0 0 0

(Photo: FIBA)

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