Marvellous Montenegro Stay Perfect

Vladimir Dasic was red-hot for Montenegro, finishing with 20 points in Israel

Unbeaten Montenegro moved to within touching distance of a place at EuroBasket 2013 after inspirational performances by Bojan Dubljevic and Vladamir Dasic lifted them to a super 81-76 road win in Israel, their sixth straight success of the campaign.

The runaway leaders of Group A had looked destined to stomach their first taste of defeat both early in the final quarter when they fell 67-60 behind, and, when Omri Casspi sunk a triple with less than two minutes remaining of an absorbing encounter to put Israel 75-72 ahead.

But, as they have done all summer, Montenegro again found a way to win, this time by scoring nine of the last ten points to leave a crestfallen Israeli team wondering what might have been.

The visitors certainly showed remarkable belief and resilience throughout the game, as they also fell 37-29 behind just before half-time when Guy Pnini made a score from behind the arc.

Dasic showed his quality with 20 points, eight rebounds and five assists for Montenegro whilst Dubljevic continued to enhance his burgeoning reputation with 18 points and ten rebounds.

Having been on something of a roll after three consecutive wins, it was a third defeat for Israel despite the best efforts of Casspi who had 20 points and also Alexander Tyus who gained his 16 point haul from seven of eight floor shooting.

Quotes Israel vs. Montenegro

"We came here knowing it's going to be a tough game. Most important is to be up by at least one point at the buzzer and it doesn't matter when you lead during the game. We knew that Israel play well at home and they like to run so we tried to slow them down. We played tough and at the most part we did a good job. That's why we won the game. We are still perfect in the group and that's a great thing for us, but every game starts from 0-0 and in the next game we'll try to win again."

Montenegro head coach Luka Pavicevic
"This is a great win for us. Our win in Belgrade surprised everyone. Our win here was different. We led the group and Israel really needed the win. We can't say Israel didn't play well tonight. So far us to step up in Tel Aviv and to have such a great win is a huge thing. I congratulate my players on having focus, courage and toughness to win this game."

Israel player Gu Pnini
"Tough loss. We had good momentum after the great win over Serbia but we played against a very good team that is very well coached. At the last minutes of close games you need to take good decisions and they did a better job at that. We have to win on Sunday to be back in the race. It's tough to lose in front of our fans. In the first half we stopped them on 31 points. In the last minutes they made big plays and baskets and that's why they won the game.

Israel head coach Arik Shivek
It's the type of game you need to watch on video after the game several times to understand all the small details and reasons for the loss. I think the rebound they took when we had a chance to tie the game, is the story of the game. In the last minutes they made big shots. We had good looks but we missed them as well some free throw shots. That made the difference. They didn't lose so far so lets give them credit that they are the best team in the group. We played a good game but we played against a very good team, so we lost."