Game Summary

Turning point: In the 26^th minutes Jan-Hendrik Jagla hit an open three to cut the margin to one, 47-46, only to see his team suffer a 20-4 run which decided the game. Late in the third and early in the fourth Germany committed no less than six turnovers in a row, all of them live balls that pushed F.Y.R.O.M. far beyond reach.

Hero: Vrbica Stefanov of F.Y.R. of Macedonia saved his best performance for the most important game, and won't rest until he helps his team make more history. He finished a huge game with 25 points on 73% shooting from the field and five steals - the second best individual high in the entire tournament. Stefanov scored ten points already in the first quarter and added eight in the third to bring his team 40 minutes from the quarter-finals.

Stats: F.Y.R.O.M. wrote 14 steals on the night against only four of Germany. Stefanov himself had more than the entire German team. Those extra possessions and easy fast break points made the difference.

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A big second half run enabled F.Y.R. of Macedonia to write their first win in the Qualifying Round 86-75 over Germany on the second day of action in Group E in Bydgoszcz.

F.Y.R.O.M. now stand on a 1-3 record, tied with Germany, as both teams still hold a chance to make it to the Quarter-Finals.

Vrbica Stefanov is one of the oldest players in the tournament and one of the most effective, with 25 points on Sunday.

A tied game in the first half saw a much better F.Y.R.O.M. team in the second half who took over the floor on the way to their second ever EuroBasket Final Round win.

"He's probably the best player in his age right now in Europe," said Germany's Coach Dirk Bauermann on Vrbica Stefanov who led F.Y.R.O.M. to the big win.

The veteran point guard scored 25 points on 73% shooting from the field and added five steals, which are the second best individual highs in the tournament thus far.

Jeremiah Massey added 16 while Pero Antic and Dime Tasovski had 13 each.

Tasovski had five steals too and hit three times from distance, to write his tournament high right in the key game for his team.

Lucca Staiger had 14 points for Germany, including four downtown arrows, Patrick Femerling added 13, Tim Ohlbrecht added 13 with two blocks and Demond Greene scored ten.

"I think our young players played well today yet some of the veterans were struggling a bit," admitted Bauermann.

It was a 20-4 run late in the third and early in the fourth that pushed F.Y.R.O.M. from a one point lead to a 67-50 margin in the 31^st minute.

Germany committed no less than six live ball turnovers in a row to allow that run and see the game slip from their hands.

"We played better defense for 20-25 minutes and when we started to shoot good as well we opened a gap to decide the game," commented Coach Jovica Arsic.

F.Y.R.O.M. scored only a single bucket inside the arc the entire first quarter but had four three-pointers to rely on and hold an 18-14 margin after ten minutes, behind ten early points by Vrbica Stefanov.

Lucca Staiger came off the bench and with three downtown hits in three minutes to put Germany on top, 28-26.

Femerling's shot jumped on the rim before going in and in the next play he forced a turnover as the teams continued to go neck-to-neck.

Gecevski attacked the rim with efficiency and created a headache for Coach Bauermann but his team still couldn't gather enough points for a run.

Once again Femerling showed his activity and was the first of his team to go to the free throw line after almost 18 minutes in the game.

His nine first half points and no less than seven three-pointers on 50% shooting made it a 36-36 tie at the break.

F.Y.R.O.M. earned their biggest lead, 47-40 with a big dunk by Massey but Staiger was still on fire and hit again from distance only to see Jagla follow him and cut the margin to one.

A time out called by Coach Arsic changed things in favor of his team.

Two steals in a row by F.Y.R.O.M. capped by a buzzer beater catch and shoot by Pero Antic set the margin on 12 at the end of the third quarter, 62-50 behind a 15-4 run in which four players scored.

If Germany had any plans to come back they were shattered quickly inside the fourth with three additional turnovers, which allowed F.Y.R.O.M. to push it to a 17 point lead, and decide the night.

"We were paralyzed a bit and wanted maybe a little too much and that probably created that series of turnovers," explained Bauermann.

"We had a tough loss two days ago but just like it happened with our tough loss to Greece and then the win over Israel we recovered quickly," analyzed Tasovski.

"Now we need to beat Russia and make it to the Quarter-Finals."

Germany will take on Croatia on the last day of the group while today's winners will fight against Russia.

Lucca Staiger (Germany):

"I think FYR of Macedonia played very well. They won because they played as a team and executed very well."

Dime Tasovski (FYROM):

"This was a hard game after two losses and a day break, but we're back. We played a good game and hopefully we'll repeat this against Russia."

Jovica Arsic (FYROM Coach):

"The young German team was under pressure and they couldn't handle it.  After 20-25 minutes we started to execute very well and it was the turning point of the game."

Dirk Bauermann (Germany Coach):

"Just like Luca said they played an excellent game. Maybe the best one in this tournament. What Stefanov did was unbelievable. We struggled to find the rhythm. Today we just picked the bad day. We have to lick our wounds and play good against Croatia. We were a little soft at the first quarter, not as aggressive as in the previous games because of my decisions. Considering the previous games I thought it would be a good idea because of the fouls trouble we had. We were not favorite, let say it was 50/50. Sometimes for young players it is better to play as underdogs."

Two teams in a very uncommon state will take the stage first on the second day of the games in Bydgoszcz when F.Y.R. of Macedonia and Germany will go head-to-head.

Germany stand on a 1-2 record, while their opponent are still looking for their first win in the Qualifying Round. So far nothing unusual, but what makes this game special is their state of mind.

Both sides arrived to the championship with ambitions but very small expectations. Before the games tipped off both of them would have accept a scenario in which they got eliminated in the Qualifying Round.

Without Dirk Nowitzki Germany mostly wanted to prove they can still have a say in EuroBasket while F.Y.R.O.M. first of all looked for their debut win ever on the biggest stage of Europe. The spot in the next round is just a very big bonus.

Yet something about this situation is even more unique, as both teams actually still have a chance to make it the top eight, especially Germany.

A loss would mean F.Y.R.O.M. is out of the race for sure, which leaves just one more country for Germany to eliminate to be in the top eight and that team can be either Russia or Croatia - they have already beaten the Russians and they will face Croatia on the last day of the Qualifying Round for a win-or-die game in which anything can happen.

F.Y.R.O.M. will tie records with Germany in case of a win, and face Russia on the last day. If there's not going to be any big upset between Russia and Greece later on today, that last day game will be another win-or-die.

One of these two underdogs will win this game, and whoever that may very likely be only 40 minutes from an unbelievable achievement in EuroBasket 2009.

That alone is enough to focus a lot of attention on this game.

Head-to-head: Only two matches in the history of those teams and in both Germany won. In the 2003 the Germans won 74-80 in Ohrid, and 86-78 on their home court. Like now, back then as well, Germany missed Dirk Nowitzki, so their perfect record is still a good reference for nowadays.

Last time out: Both sides suffered losses on the first day of the Qualifying Round but in two very different styles. Germany lost by eight points, 84-76, to Greece after a big fight for 40 minutes, while F.Y.R.O.M. were crushed by France in an 83-57 defeat.

Stats: Germany and F.Y.R.O.M. are ranked last in assists per game here in Poland. They are the only teams in the championship to dish less than 11 assists per game. They are also ranked last, among the teams who still participate, in points per game and field goal percentages. It will be interesting to follow how these two will react on offense against each other.

Key Match-Up: Jan-Henrick Jagla didn't have a good shooting tournament so far. For a player who once scored nine three-pointers in a single game in the top Turkish league, and stood on 37.2% average last season in the Euroleague we could expect to make better than four three pointers in 25% he's having here. F.Y.R.O.M. have their own big guys who can shoot from distance in Todor Gecevski and Pero Antic. Those big men three pointers are very important for both teams. Whoever reach more of them, will have easier life grabbing the win.

X-Factor: Benzing had a big show against Greece, and proved a 20 year old talent can contribute in a high level game also in the top stage of Europe against a top team as Greece, but what differs talents from stars is consistency. If Benzing is able to bring that good performance back-to-back Germany will enjoy a big advantage.

Sounding-Off:  If we can play with 100 percent and a lot of energy, we may have an interesting game. If we show defense like we did against France then we have no chance," Petar Arsic, the bench boss of F.Y.R.O.M.