Turkey beats Croatia in EuroBasket qualifier
TURKEY defeated Croatia 84-78 in the sixth and the last EuroBasket 2022 Group D qualifiers match on Monday.
Sertaç Şanlı and Buğrahan Tuncer led Turkey to victory by scoring 17 points each at Istanbul’s Beşiktaş Akatlar Sports Complex.
Shane Larkin played racked up 16 points and made seven assists, while Melih Mahmutoğlu added 12 points for Turkey in the last group game.
Tomislav Gabric was the highest scorer for the visitors with 13 points as Miro Bilan and Goran Filipovic added 12 points each.
The team had already guaranteed its qualification to the European competition after the Netherlands defeated Croatia 65-57 earlier Saturday.
Turkey had claimed a 88-80 victory over Sweden in another Group D game on the same day, paving its way to the EuroBasket 2022.
Aside from Turkey, Croatia and the Netherlands have also advanced to the competition.
Monday’s clash also marked the 999th match in the Turkish national team’s 85-year history.
The national team played its first match against Greece on June 24, 1936. It has won 512 matches, suffered 485 losses and one match ended in a draw.
A friendly match against Macedonia in Istanbul ended in a 78-78 draw on June 13, 1995.
The Turkish national basketball team’s first official win came at the European championship in Egypt in 1949 when it beat Syria 43-33.