Croatia finished the group stage with a win (90-85) over Ukraine, but not second place. Damir Mulaomerovic’s side only did half the work as they needed a 7+ point win to finish just behind Greece. However, he didn’t as Ukraine finished Group C in second place and Croatia in third place. The only case where the two positions need to be reversed is that a miracle happens and Great Britain (by far the worst team in the group) defeats Italy in a matter of hours at the Mediolanum Forum.

Most importantly for both sides, they avoided fourth place in the group and a first knockout round clash with Serbia. What has not escaped Italy.

The game was balanced from the start, Croatia took a slight lead but Ukraine didn’t give them the space to feel comfortable. Mainly because Volodymyr Erun did a great job in the executive part. But as soon as Damir Mulaomerovic’s players had found a rhythm from 6:75, things changed quickly. “X” (21-21) in the first third became +12 (41-29) in the 17th minute of the game, an example of the momentum that “Crvatska” had built up at that point. That momentum didn’t last long though, as within three minutes Ukraine managed to equalize the situation and concede the difference in shot (45-42), showing they have a pulse going into the second half.

This feeling was confirmed in practice in the third period. Volodymyr Herun and Sviatoslav Mihailiuk made such a step forward for Einars Bagatskis’ team that they caused a complete reversal of the landscape. First, the difference fell to -5 (61-56 at 27′) before the reversal was completed and to +4 (69-73) at 32′ of play.

However, in the final stages of the game, Croatia showed that they want it the most. Their offensive worked much better, Bojan Bogdanovic finished the balls he received and together with Kruslav Simon made the difference for the new surprise and victory in the curtain of the EuroBasket 2022 group stage.

THE DECADES: 21-21, 45-42, 67-67, 90-85.

CROATIAN (Mulaomerovic): Bogdanovic 27 (4/11 2-points, 4/5 3-points, 7/9 shots, 7 rebounds, 3 assists), Hezonia 6 (2), Matkovic 10 (6 rebounds), Mavra 13 (1 3-pointers, 4 assists), Ramliak 3 (1), Saric 3 (1/5 3-pointers), Simon 11 (3/3 3-pointers), 6 rebounds, 3 assists), Smith 7 (1/5 3 pointer), Zubac 10 (8 rebounds).

UKRAINE (Bagatskis): Blizniuk 16 (2/6 threes, 8 rebounds, 4 assists), Bobrov 8 (2), Erun 21 (9/10 twos, 3/3 shots, 6 rebounds), Len 6 (2 threes, 4 rebounds ), Lukasov 5 (1), Mykhailiuk 14 (2/10 2-pointers, 3/6 3-pointers, 1/1 shot), Pustov 4, Shannon 11 (2), Sidorov, Tkachenko ( 0/3 3-pointers ), Zotov.

Croatia team stats: 21/46 2-pointers, 13/28 3-pointers, 9/11 shots, 41 rebounds (29 defense + 12 offense), 16 assists, 8 turnovers, 9 steals, 1 block.

Team statistics of Ukraine: 20/41 2-pointers, 12/28 3-pointers, 9/9 shots, 36 rebounds (30 defense + 6 offense), 14 assists, 13 turnovers, 5 steals, 4 blocks.