Ukraine's national team lost in the semifinals of EuroBasket U-20, but did not drop out of the tournament

The U-20 men's national team failed to reach the final of the European Championship in Division B, which is taking place in Skopje. The semi-final match with North Macedonia ended with a score of 53:66.

Now, in order for our guys to advance to Division A, they need to win the match for third place on 16 July. The opponent will be the team that loses in the other semi-final between Sweden and the Czech Republic. Their match will start at 22:00 Kyiv time.

In the match against the Macedonians, the Ukrainians faced extreme pressure from the stands from the first minutes, as well as aggressive defence from the opponent, and until the hosts converted their chances, the game was even.

Our basketball players had a local failure in three and a half minutes at the end of the first quarter and the same number of minutes at the beginning of the second quarter - during this time, the scoreboard went from 8:8 to 8:22 in favour of the hosts. Fortunately, it was at this time that the Ukrainians played better and scored 11 points in the next three minutes.

In the end, it seemed that the first half ended with a score of 25:30, but the referees made a rather controversial decision - they saw an out when our players put the ball in, allowed 0.5 seconds to play, during which the Macedonians managed to play the ball and make a baserunner - in the end, 25:33.

In the second half of the game, the Ukrainians tried to get closer to the opponent and sometimes succeeded, but the hosts of EuroBasket immediately regained a comfortable advantage and eventually won by +11.

Ukraine lost in all key statistical indicators, not critically, but it was reflected in the score.

Oleksandr Kobzysty with 16 points and 9 rebounds and Bogdan Brynyuk with 14 points and 7 rebounds were the most productive players in our team. Both of our leaders played over 38 minutes.

The national team of Ukraine retains a chance to leave

European U-20 Championship. Men, Division B

1/2 finals

Skopje, North Macedonia

North Macedonia - Ukraine 66:53 (15:8, 18:17, 11:13, 22:15)

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