The Croatian men's U18 basketball team competed against a full house at Sportska dvorana Zamet in their second Group A match. Facing a tough challenge, the national team secured an impressive 87-81 victory over Switzerland and kept hopes alive of advancing to the knockout stage.
Tomislav Vučković led the charge with 17 points as captain Josip Santro added 15 along with ten rebounds and six assists. Martin Salamunić and Zdravko Perić also tallied 15 each, knocking down eight threes and making 23 free throws.
Led by several key performances, Croatian players showed steady resilience through various shifts in momentum. The first quarter saw Switzerland slightly ahead - 19-17; but in the second period, Croatia elevated their game leading up to a comfortable 28:16 lead at halftime with a scoreline of 45-35.
Croatia entered the third quarter with a ten-point cushion against Switzerland. Despite Switzerland's late-game surge, they couldn't capitalize on a disorganized Croatia, maintaining a comfortable position until 76-60 by the final whistle.
With minutes left, higher-ups and triples enabled the Croats to end up ahead at 85:74, despite Switzerland pushing harder in the last quarter but still fell short with an 81-87 loss.
The Croatian team is due for a two-day rest before facing Romania on August 28th in Group A again against a full-house support.
