��������

LIMASSOL, Cyprus: Defending champions Spain were eliminated from EuroBasket in the group stage when they lost 90-86 to Greece, who were led by Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 25 points and 14 rebounds Thursday.

Tyler Dorsey chipped in with 22 points as Greece advanced to the round of 16 atop Group C. They will face Israel on Sunday for a spot in the quarterfinals.

Spain entered the final group game with a 2-2 record, including a loss to Georgia in their opener that cost them a tiebreaker and left them in a must-win scenario. The Greeks had already qualified after winning three of their first four games.

Spain trailed 50-35 at halftime but rallied and twice took the lead in the fourth quarter before Kostas Sloukas made a layup and a pair of free throws in the final minute to seal the win.

Jaime Pradilla scored 14 points and Mario Saint-Supery added 13 for Spain, which had beaten France in the 2022 final.

In other late action Thursday, Belgium defeated already qualified Poland 70-69.

Nurkic leads Bosnia and Herzegovina

Utah Jazz center Jusuf Nurkic scored 15 points as Bosnia and Herzegovina beat Group C rival Georgia 84-76 to reach the knockout stage.

Bosnia and Herzegovina will play Poland on Sunday in the last 16.

Georgia trailed by 12 points at halftime but pulled even at 71-71 with just over seven minutes left in the fourth quarter in the Cypriot city of Limassol.

Nurkic stopped Georgia’s momentum with a hook shot to spark a nine-point run. The Georgians ran out of gas and its bench mustered just four points in the game.

Nurkic also had a game-high 12 rebounds for his third straight double-double of the tournament.

Toronto Raptors forward Alexander Mamukelashvili led Georgia with 20 points and eight rebounds.

Despite the loss, Georgia advanced in fourth place thanks to Spain’s defeat. Georgia will face France on Sunday.

Already-qualified Italy crushed rock-bottom Cyprus 89-54 in the group’s other game.

The Italians will play Slovenia on Sunday.

Slick France too strong

In remaining Group D play, Zaccharie Risacher led with 15 points as France routed Iceland 114-74 in Katowice, Poland.

Risacher, the No. 1 NBA draft pick last year, made three of five three-point attempts and had seven rebounds. France spread the scoring around with seven other players in double digits, and a strong bench contributed 66 points overall.

The Olympic silver medalists advanced atop Group D.

Dominant Doncic

Luka Doncic starred with 37 points as Slovenia beat Israel 106-96 for a third straight win in Group D.

The Los Angeles Lakers star added 11 rebounds, nine assists and three steals — along with seven turnovers. The crowd in Katowice chanted “MVP, MVP” when he came off near the end.

Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija led Israel with 34 points and nine rebounds.

Both teams had already qualified for the knockout phase in Riga, Latvia, which starts on Saturday.

Saturday’s round-of-16 matchups: Turkiye vs. Sweden; Germany vs. Portugal; Lithuania vs. Latvia; and Serbia vs. Finland.
 

SHARJAH: Leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed mystified United Arab Emirates batters with a career-best return of 4-9 as Pakistan sealed its place in the final of the T20 tri-series with a 31-run victory Thursday.

Fakhar Zaman tuned up for next week’s Asia Cup with an unbeaten 77 off 44 balls — the left-hander’s first T20 half-century after 15 games — and propelled Pakistan to 171-5 against some sloppy UAE fielding after captain Salman Ali Agha won the toss and elected to field.

Ahmed, playing his first game of the series, then baffled UAE top-order batters with his carrom balls and googlies before restricting them to 140-7 and the trend of teams successfully defending the totals continued for fifth successive game.

Afghanistan, which already has four points, will take on UAE in the last league game Friday before meeting Pakistan in the final Sunday.

UAE top-order batters couldn’t decode Ahmed’s mystery spin once he came onto bowl inside the batting powerplay. Captain Mohammad Waseem (19) failed to read the carrom ball and sliced an easy catch at point in Ahmed’s second over.

Alishan Sharafu, who was scrappy in the field earlier on, and Ethan D’Souza struggled to set up the momentum before D’Souza holed out at deep square leg in the 11th over after scoring 9 off 14 balls.

Ahmed then returned for another two brilliant overs and picked up the wickets of Asif Khan and Rahul Chopra in space of three balls before wrapping up a brilliant spell with the wicket of Harshit Kaushik off his final ball as UAE slipped to 102-5 in 15 overs.

Opening batter Sharafu’s countercharge came a bit too late for UAE as he made 68 off 51 balls before Agha grabbed a catch over his head at mid-off of Shaheen Shah Afridi’s off-cutter.

Earlier, Zaman and Mohammad Nawaz (37 not out) revived Pakistan with its highest-ever sixth wicket stand in T20 international and added 91 runs off the final 51 balls.

But both batters survived chances against an unlucky left-arm spinner Haider Ali (2-17) when they were dropped in the outfield off successive balls before cutting loose in the final two overs which fetched Pakistan 42 runs.

Nawaz smacked fast bowler Junaid Siddique (1-52) for three successive fours in the penultimate over before lofting the pacer for a six over cover boundary in a 20-run 19th over.

Zaman was dropped by Sharafu on 39 at mid-off before another misfield by him brought 50 for the batter. Zaman capped Pakistan’s perfect recovery with five consecutive fours in Mohammad Jawadullah’s last over that included two lap shots over the head of wicketkeeper and two edges flying to third boundary.

Pakistan continued to follow its new template of showing aggression in the batting powerplay under new head coach Mike Hesson and reached 50-3.

But Ali snapped two more quick wickets of Mohammad Haris (14) and Hasan Nawaz (4) and Pakistan struggled to 80-5 in the 12th over before Zaman and left-hander Nawaz smacked eight boundaries and a six of the final 10 balls.