The Polish national basketball team defeated defending champion Slovenia 90:87 (29:26, 29:13, 6:24, 26:24) in Berlin in the quarterfinals and advanced to the semifinals of the European Championships. This is the first promotion of the red-and-whites to the top four since 1971.
Poland was playing in the quarterfinals for the first time since 1997, when it succumbed to Greece 62:72 in Barcelona. Now in Berlin, it defeated defending champion Slovenia with one of the NBA’s biggest stars, Luka DonΔiΔ of the Dallas Mavericks, in a game that had plenty of twists and turns and kept suspense until the final seconds.
POLAND ARE HEADING TO THE #EUROBASKET SEMI FINALS FOR THE 1ST TIME SINCE 1971! π΅π±#BringTheNoise
β #EuroBasket 2022 (@EuroBasket) September 14, 2022
The Polish hero of the match was Mateusz Ponitka, captain of the team, who scored a triple-double: 26 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists.
π 26 PTS 16 REB 10 AST
Mateusz Ponitka posts the third triple double in #EuroBasket History as Poland advance to Semi-Finals for the 1st time in 1971! π€―π΅π±#BringTheNoise pic.twitter.com/6YyPd38ObO
β #EuroBasket 2022 (@EuroBasket) September 14, 2022
This is the first time since 2009 that the team defending the title has dropped out of the quarterfinals – back then it was Russia, the 2007 gold medalist from Madrid.
The Poles are now to face France, the Olympic runner-up, in Friday’s semifinal (5:15pm).
sources:
TVP info
