FYR of Macedonia narrowly missed out on EuroBasket 2007 in Spain but they are looking like good bets to reach next year's final round in Poland after a vital Group B road win in Estonia.

The visitors got 20 points from Djeremaja Mejsi and Todor Gecevski weighed in with 18 in a 90-78 triumph in Tallinn.

The win has kept FYROM (2-1) hot on the heels of Latvia (3-0), the only team to beat them so far.

The Latvians thrashed Portugal in their meeting on Wednesday.

With the game knotted at 32-32 midway through the second quarter, jump shots from Pero Antik, Vrbica Stefanov and Gecevski put the Balkan guests in front for good.

They enjoyed their biggest lead of the first half at 46-36 following two Mejsi free throws with 26 seconds to go in the second quarter.

Estonia found themselves behind at 57-47 when Kristjan Kangur's jumper sparked a 7-0 spurt to close the gap to just three.

Stefanov hit a jumper and Antik dunked and FYR of Macedonia went on to answer with seven straight points of their own before pulling away for a comfortable triumph.

FYR of Macedoniaout-rebounded Estonia 37-24.

Mejsi had 10 boards and Gecevski nine for the winners.

Gregor Arbet scored 18 points and Kangur 17 for Estonia, who are now 1-2.

 

Djeremaja Mejsi, FYR of Macedonia player:

"Estonia is a good team, but tonight we were better and able to win. Now we just need to get back home, practice some more and get ready for the next game!"
 
Jovica Arsic, FYR of Macedonia coach:

"I think we were just the better team. We started up with poor defense allowing Estonia a lot of baskets without committing any fouls. But the quality of the game went up in the second half. I know the Estonian team very well and they have a good coach, but they are lacking force under the basket."

Üllar Kerde, Estonia coach:

"Tonight we were able to control the opponent's guards, but their front line was unstoppable for us. For me it's not the end of the world, we still have a game on Saturday where we will need to fight to win."
 
Tanel Tein, Estonia player:

"When I'm looking at the game statistics, I can't see one thing where we were better than our opponents. It's a first game where I felt that things were just not going the way I wanted them to go. Tonight the opponents were simply better."