Czech Win Puts Team Closer To Slovenia

David Jelinek was red-hot from outside, nailing five of his seven three-point attempts

The Czech Republic bounced back from their weekend setback to Italy with a 90-71 rout of Portugal.

David Jelinek hit five of seven shots from long range en route to a game-high 25 points for the winners, who made 12 of 22 as a team.

The victory has strengthened the Czechs' bid to clinch second place in EuroBasket Qualification Round Group F and gain a spot in next year's EuroBasket.

Pavel Budinsky's side is now 5-2 with a game at Turkey (3-3) next week.

Since they claimed an 18-point triumph in the first meeting with the Turks, the Czechs are in excellent shape to capture second spot behind Italy.

The Czechs fell behind 24-21 at the end of the opening quarter against Portugal but then turned on the style in the second when they outscored their opponents 32-12 for a 53-36 advantage at the intermission.

The Portuguese managed to close the gap to eight late in the third quarter.

Jakub Kudlácek hit a three-pointer for the Czechs to stop the Portugal comeback cold in its tracks.

Veteran forward Joao Santos had 19 points for Portuguese, who have lost all of their games in the Qualification Round.

Quotes Czech Republic vs. Portugal

Portugal head coach Mario Palma:
"Today the Czech Republic played well. They made 54% of their three-point shots. In the first period it was difficult for the Czechs to break the zone defence, in the second half they started to shoot from outside very well. In the end they shot great. Today they played much better than in the other matches. Today nobody from Group F could beat them. The Czech coach leeds the team very well and I congratulate him. We lost in the second half, we had a lot of chances, but we made a lot of mistakes from turnovers. If you don't make points against a team like the Czech Republic you don't have a chance."

Portugal player Elvis Evora:
"I agree with my coach. I agree that the Czech Republic have a great team, great chemistry. Today they knew that this is a very important game to qualify for EuroBasket. The pressure played in their favor, they were on fire. They played a great game. We tried to do our best, but it wasn't a good day for us. They deserved to win, congratulations to them."

Czech Republic head coach Pavel Budinsky:
"First I would like to thank the players and fans. We knew we needed to win this last home match. The Portugese played from the very beginning zone defence. It took time till we found out how to break it. Especially bench players David Jelinek, Lubos Barton and Jakub Kudlacek had their day today and that's how our game has improved. For the final result, most improtant was the second quarter which we won 32:12. In the second half Portugal came back into the match, we didn't play well, but we finished it in time. I am satisfied with this win."

Czech Republic player David Jelínek:
"At the begginning the coach warned us to not to start the game like we did against Belarus. In that match we didn't catch the beginning. This also happened today. Before half-time we made many points and the difference in the score was higher. We didn't enter the second half well, the difference was only nine points, but after this we realized we need to improve our game. Fortunatelly we made it."