Spain meets Hungary and qualifies to join Europe

Spain defeated the group’s main rival, a priori, for the second time in an intense duel at the Carolina Marín de Huelva Sports Palace, where they already beat Iceland on Thursday and He confirmed his lead (4-0) against Hungary’s two victories.. He soon learned of Romania’s defeat and therefore already made his mathematical classification for the European Championships in Slovenia and Israel.

Led by Miguel Méndez, the team was firm and generous in its effort and was more accurate on shots than the Magyar team. sold face defeat. To these weapons, the Spaniards added the energy of a dedicated people in a game where the very successful Astou Ndour was the Spaniard’s top scorer with 21 points and 28 PIR credits.

pulse change

Hungary started to take the initiative on the scoreboard with mutual baskets. From the first moment it was seen that Magyar team was tougher than Iceland and the Spanish team struggled to move the ball fluently on offense.

Less than five minutes before the end of the first quarter, The Spanish team managed to pass and came back with a series of 8-0, going from 5-7 to 13-7. In addition, he adjusted his defense and started fast passes and penetrations, forcing him to foul his opponent (17-13), with Ndour and Casas leading the way on offense, but a three-pointer from Reka Dombai narrowed the gap (17-17- 17). 16, art.10).

Captain Alba Torrens, who made the difference at the beginning of the second quarter, brought the biggest difference to the Spanish team to date with a three-pointer and layup in counter attacks (26-19).

Two minutes before the break, the trio Leonor Rodríguez leads Spain 10 for the first time (39-29). It was the reward for the sustained defensive intensity of the national team, which maintained its advantage with numerous steals and quick starts.

Where it was it didn’t go any further due to some static transition errors. drowning the Hungarians’ defenses. Still, Spain entered the time-out by a wide margin (43-29, m.20), nearly doubled their two-shot percentage and the trio dominated in rebounds and steals.

iron defense

At the restart, Ndour gained weight from under the basket and scored 15 points and 5 rebounds, while the Spanish defense managed to close even more. Hungary could barely shoot comfortably.. However, apart from María Conde’s trio who scored 60-45, Spain’s shot was not at the same level as the Hungarians took the set 17-18.

In the final quarter, he boosted the series score to 0-5 (60-52) with Goree’s trio (10 points). Spaniards’ inaccuracies and their success in shooting their opponents created excitement until the end.

However, in the middle of the last quarter, Spain again took the lead by 10 points (68-58) and the tension was high in every position. The people of Huelva turned to confidently load the Hungarian team into the national players who know how to keep it away with tremendous physical effort. In the closing stages, Méndez’s players remained calm and gave up any reaction to win 77-66 and qualify for a spot at the 2023 European Championship.