Israel qualify for Eurobasket

Israel qualified for their twelfth consecutive EuroBasket tournament on Sunday evening after beating the Netherlands 83-60 to win Group B with a game to spare.

Hosting the Dutch in Nicosia, Cyprus, Erez Edelstein’s side turned on the style to claim their fourth straight win, having lost their opening game against Montenegro in their opening qualifier.

Claiming four wins in the past 11 days, the side topped their qualifying group for the first time since 2001, while they haven’t missed out on European basketball’s most prestigious competition since 1991.

Once again, Omri Casspi was the team’s top scorer – for the fourth time in five qualifiers, as he scored 22 points, claiming eight rebounds and four assists. Gal Mekel, Raviv Limonad and Yotam Halperin were the next highest scorers.

Edelstein said: “We had many problems ahead of the campaign, but the players really wanted to do well and were so determined.”

The Israelis conclude their group by ‘hosting’ Bulgaria in Larnaca, with Edelstein set to play a number of fringe players.