JWSport Jacek Waszak – Sport journalist
The Polish basketball team has been in Valencia since Monday, where it is playing in a special “bubble” to the third and fourth round in Group A to eliminate the European Championship, which will take place in 2022 in the Czech Republic, Georgia, Italy and Germany.
Poland beat Romania 91:61 (24:7, 21:17, 26:23, 20:14) . It is in the third round of the elimination for the European Championship in Valencia that Polish basketball players win with Romania by such a high difference, because they have a thirty point advantage.
Poles played without unauthorized players for the tournament in Valencia missed Adam Waczynski and AJ Slaughter, and even before the meeting of PZKOSZ (Polish Basketball Association) informed that Mateusz Ponitka will not play with Romania. It should be mentioned that Mateusz arrived in Spain on Friday, after the Euroleague match played on Thursday in Vilnius.
At the beginning of the match it was 10:0 and the opponents scored first points only in the 7th minute. At the end of the first quarter the Romanians started to play better and maintained this trend. They scored Radu Virna or Lucas Tohatan, but the Poles were still the better team.
In the 7th minute, after a throw from behind the lineage of 6.75 m ( for three ) Damian Kulig 15:0. The Romanians missed the first 12 throws and it was visible that with more aggressive defense the Poles had problems in the offensive.
Michał Sokołowski did an excellent job, and Kolenda also played well. The first quarter was won by the Polish National Team as much as 24:7.
In the second quarter, the red-and-white team went down with a very high lead of twenty one points (45:24).
Coach Taylor gave a rest in the second half to experienced basketball players, preparing for Monday’s competition with Israel. It is not known whether Ponitka, who is currently waiting for the results of the next tests, will be present at this meeting. After the break, the match became offensive and the Polish team was much more evenly matched, and Romania gained confidence in the attack. However, the advantage was still high and safe for us and after the third quarter it was already 71:47 for the White and Reds.
The fourth quarter was an unhindered advantage for the White-Reds. The Poles showed what they won the meeting with defense and efficiency. The Poles increased the advantage, which reached in the 38th minute, as many as 35 points (89:54) after the actions of Zyskowski and Łączyński. Poles won the fight under the tables 41:37, they had 19 assists and six more than their rivals only nine losses, and Romanians had as many as 20.
Romania – Poland 61 : 91 (7:24 , 17:21 , 23:26 , 14:20)
Romania: Chris Richard 14, Radu Virna 11, Lucas Tohatan 10, Bogdan Popa 9, Emanuel Cate 7, Rares Uta 6, Ionut Berceanu 2, Stefan Grasu 2, Catalin Baciu 0, Turdo Girbea 0, Mirel Dragoste 0, Mihai Maciuca 0
Poland: Michał Sokołowski 17, Jarosław Zyskowski 13, Karol Gruszecki 9, Michał Michalak 9, Aaron Cel 8, Damian Kulig 7, Tomasz Gielo 7, Łukasz Koszarek 6, Adam Hrycaniuk 4, Łukasz Kolenda 4, Dominik Olejniczak 4, Kamil Łączyński 3
Table
point M Z P baskets
Israel 6 3 3 0 257:221
2 Poland 5 3 2 1 242:205
3 Spain 4 3 1 2 240:246
4. Romania 3 3 0 3 195:262
For the next match we invite all fans and basketball fanatics to play this time with Israel , with which our representatives lost in the first clash 71:75. If Poles win this match, they will be sure to get promoted to EuroBasket.
