Hot-Shooting Israel Sink Latvia

A rapid-fire start by Israel and some superlative shooting from downtown helped them cruise to a comfortable 110-88 home victory over Latvia as they picked up a second win to keep neck and neck with Montenegro in the battle for top spot in Group A.

Israel looked hungry right from the tip-off and the visitors were caught cold as the home team poured in a mammoth 37 first quarter points to assert control and effectively wrap up the game early.

Trailing by 19 after ten minutes was hardly ideal for Latvia and they never really seriously threatened to work their way back into the game against an Israel team with many of the big names firing on all cylinders.

A three-pointer by Rihards Kuksiks did get Latvia back to within single digits in the third but Israel just stepped on the gas again to pull clear.

Their dominance and the impact of a great team performance by the hosts was underlined by a collective 32 assists.

Omri Casspi top-scored with 21 points while Yotam Halperin and Tal Burstein did the damage from outside. The duo buried 8 of 9 triples between them in awesome display of perimeter shooting to put Latvia to the sword.

Kuksiks was also hot from outside for the losing team - he finished with 24 points after sinking seven attempts from the arc.

Quotes Israel vs. Latvia

Latvia Player Rihards Kuksiks:
"We let Israel score too much, 110 is too much. We played OK on offence but very very bad on defence. We had too many turnovers that led to Israel fast breaks. And that made the difference."

Latvia Head Coach Ainars Bagatskis:
"We played against an experienced, aggressive and strong team. In my team I have 10 players that this is their first appearance in the national team. We are not experienced in playing against the pressure we had today from the home team, the referees and the crowd. Israel's 3-Point shooting killed us, most of their players had more than 50% from 3-Point-range."

Israel Player Yotam Halperin:
"We didn't know what to look for before the game. Latvia is a very unpredictable team, with a lot of talent and young players. We played good and enjoyable basketball, with a good rotation. We had an amazing 3-Point percentage. Tomorrow we are flying to Finland to a very difficult game. The way to the Eurobasket is very long."

Israel Head Coach Arik Shibak:
"We were afraid before the game. Latvia always gave us a lot of troubles. We focused on the mental side - keep our players humbled after the win over Italy. We started the game OK, led by 4-5 points, and than we made some adjustments on offence and defence, and started a 15-0 run. From there we got to our rhythm. In the 2nd half we had some bad minutes, we made once again the adjustments, and had a 15-16 points lead with some very good moments from Tal Burstein. From that moment it was just a question of points margin, which is also important. We can be happy from the result as from the way."