No surprises in Iceland: Italy one step away from Eurobasket

Iceland-Italy 71-95

Italbasket is getting closer and closer to qualifying for the European Championships to be held in 2025: the national team coached by Gianmarco Pozzecco won its third game out of three in Group B of the Eurobasket qualifiers, beating Iceland 95-71 at the Laugardalholl Sport Centre in Reykjavik. It will need at least one more success in the remaining three games to certify qualification.

Except for a very early moment of balance, Italy literally dominated the match, with only one lapse in the third period that saw the hosts prevail 29-16. A total of 19 points were scored by Grant Basile, top scorer for the Azzurri, also finishing in double figures were Bortolani (15), Akele (13) and Spissu (10, to which he added 8 assists and 6 rebounds).

On the other side, the 15 points scored by both Elvar Fridriksson and Tryggvi Hlynason, nor Jon Axel Gudmundsson's 14, were not enough. For Iceland è it was the second defeat in three games but the national team coached by Craig Pedersen è is still fully in the running for qualification to the final stage of the European review.

Eurobasket 2025 è scheduled from Aug. 27 to Sept. 14 next year with group stage divided among Cyprus, Finland, Latvia and Poland and knockout stage entirely in Riga, the Latvian capital. Initially it was supposed to be Ukraine as one of the four host countries, but obvious withdrawal due to the war with Russia led FIBA to select Poland.