Last update - 00:00 10/09/2006
EuroBasket 2007 / Qualification all but impossible after heavy defeat to Bosnia
By Arie Livnat
Israel chances of qualifying for EuroBasket 2007 are all but over after Zvi Sherf's team slipped to an embarrassing 85-63 defeat to Bosnia-Herzegovina in Sarajevo last night.
The result leaves Israel bottom of Group B with only one win from four games, and Sherf's team now needs high-margin wins over Portugal and Macedonia in its remaining games, and for Bosnia to win in its remaining games by low margins, in order to avoid having to take part in the additional qualifying round.
Macedonia tops the group after an 83-63 win over Portugal last night.
If against Macedonia last week Israel's defense was at fault, and in the defeat to Portugal its offense was lacking, yesterday Israel lost the game at both ends of the court.
Jamie Arnold was back in form with 25 points and 7 rebounds, but with the exception of Amit Tamir, who hit 10 points, the rest of the Israel team was impotent.
Guard Yotam Halperin had another miserable day and center Yaniv Green failed to make his presence felt under the basket. Sharon Sasson opened with a triple, but got into early foul trouble.
The home team hit its opening five shots to take a 13-4 lead and Israel was forced to play catch-up for the remainder of the contest. But Sherf's charges never got closer than six points, as Bosnia controled the game for 40 minutes. Israel's chances were killed off when Sherf received two late technical fouls from the bench.
Ermin Jazvin led Bosnia with 17 points, while Kenan Bajramovic chipped in with 15 and Henry Domercant scored 14.