Luka Doncic scores 47 factors, second-most in EuroBasket historical past, to guide Slovenia previous France

COLOGNE, Germany — Luka Doncic was requested Tuesday about whether or not he or Greece’s Giannis Antetokounmpo had the higher probability of setting a EuroBasket scoring file.

Doncic shortly picked Antetokounmpo.

A day later, he might need proved himself incorrect.

Doncic scored 47 factors — the second-most by anybody within the historical past of the European championships — and led Slovenia previous France 88-82 on Wednesday for the highest seed out of Group B going into this weekend’s begin of the knockout spherical.

“Luka, clearly, is a incredible participant,” mentioned France middle Rudy Gobert, one of many world’s prime defenders.

Doncic had 27 of Slovenia’s first 36 factors, made 15 of 23 pictures from the sector, plus had staff highs of seven rebounds and 5 assists.

Eddy Terrace had 63 factors for Belgium in opposition to Albania in 1957. That is the one EuroBasket efficiency by which somebody had extra factors than Doncic did on Wednesday; the earlier second-best effort was 46 by Greece’s Nikos Galis in opposition to Sweden in 1983.

Probably the most on this 12 months’s EuroBasket, coming into Wednesday, was Antetokounmpo scoring 41 on Ukraine. With Antetokounmpo and Doncic each scoring over 40 factors in a sport, it marks the primary time since 1987 that a number of gamers had a 40-plus-point sport in the identical Eurobasket match.

Goran Dragic broke a tie with a layup with 1:20 left that put Slovenia (4-1) forward for good. It was a measure of payback for Slovenia, which misplaced to France within the Olympic semifinals on the Tokyo Video games final summer season.

“Luka had a terrific night time,” Slovenia coach Aleksander Sekulic mentioned. “He spoils us a lot. We expect that is regular. This isn’t regular.”

Dragic had 14 for Slovenia. Gobert had 19 for France (3-2), which bought 15 from Evan Fournier, 13 from Amath M’Baye, 11 from Elie Okobo and a 10-point, 10-rebound effort from Thomas Heurtel.

Wednesday began the ultimate spherical of group play. There are 4 teams with six groups in every, and the highest 4 golf equipment in every group — 16 groups in all — transfer on to Berlin for the knockout part that begins Saturday.

GROUP B

LITHUANIA 87, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 70

Lithuania goes to the knockout stage of EuroBasket.

Marius Grigonis scored 16 factors, Jonas Valanciunas completed with 13 factors and 15 rebounds, and Lithuania topped Bosnia and Herzegovina — a winner-take-all sport when it comes to which membership would transfer out of Group B and into the spherical of 16.

Arnas Butkevicius and Ignas Brazdeikis every scored 13 factors, and Domantas Sabonis added 12 for Lithuania, which survived a second consecutive must-win sport.

Dzanan Musa led all scorers with 22 factors for Bosnia and Herzegovina (2-3), whereas Jusuf Nurkic added 15.

A 30-10 run spanning the second and third quarters was the important thing for Lithuania (2-3). The sport was tied at 32 earlier than the spurt gave Lithuania a 62-42 lead early within the third quarter.

GROUP A

SPAIN 72, TURKEY 69

At Tbilisi, Georgia, Lorenzo Brown’s jumper with 2:11 left put Spain (4-1) forward to remain in its group-clinching win over Turkey (3-2).

Willy Hernangomez led Spain with 15 factors, and Brown completed with 11. Spain will meet Lithuania within the spherical of 16 this weekend.

Cedi Osman scored 20 for Turkey, whereas Furkan Korkmaz completed with 16 and Alperen Sengun added 14. Turkey will play within the knockout spherical as properly.

BELGIUM 89, BULGARIA 80

Belgium (3-2) ensured it will attain the group stage, with Retin Obasohan scoring 25 factors and Manu Lecomte including 20.

Maxime De Zeeuw scored 13 for Belgium.

Aleksandar Vezenkov had 26 factors and 13 rebounds and Dee Bost scored 18 for Bulgaria (1-4), which was eradicated.

THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE

First-round play ends in Teams C and D, because the 60-game group stage involves an finish.

Group C: Croatia (2-2) vs. Ukraine (3-1), Estonia (1-3) vs. Greece (4-0), Britain (0-4) vs. Italy (2-2). Croatia, Ukraine, Greece and Italy are all advancing to Berlin and the knockout stage. Greece could possibly be one in all two groups – Serbia is the opposite – to have an opportunity to get by group play unbeaten.

Group D: Israel (2-2) vs. Czech Republic (1-3), Serbia (4-0) vs. Poland (3-1), Finland (2-2) vs. Netherlands (0-4). The Israel-Czech Republic winner goes to Berlin, the Serbia-Poland winner will win the group (each have already got clinched knockout spherical spots) and Finland can be locked into the knockout spherical.

There aren’t any video games Friday.

ESPN Stats & Info and The Related Press contributed to this report.