Russia secured their spot in the next round of EuroBasket 2007 with an easier than expected 90-56 win over Israel on the second day of games in Group A in Granada.

Israel dropped to 0-2 and must beat Serbia tomorrow to qualify to the next round.

The Russian side took a double digit lead already at the end of the first half, but took total

		Lior Eliyahu was the shining light for Israel with 17 points in the loss.

control over the game in the first minutes of the second half behind a massive effort. 

"Our players approached the game in the right way with the right attitude and the right level of energy," commented the coach of the winning side, David Blatt.

Energy surely wasn't missing tonight for Russia.

Andrei Kirilenko, for the second night in a row, turned in a big performance with 17 points and 13 rebounds, turning in 10 boards, five assists and two blocks in the first half alone. 

In the first half it took him some time to get into a scoring rhythm so he focused on helping his teammates produce. 

Israel was in the game for one quarter, and trailed 17-15 after ten minutes, but Sergei Monya scored five points to lead a 7-0 Russian run early in the second quarter.

Kirilenko added five points of his own to bring Russia to the half time break with a 37-23 advantage.

Russia went on an 18-2 run to open the second half.

Even the ever lasting fighting Israeli team realized the meaning of that.

The last 15 minutes of the game were garbage time.

"I'm not happy and satisfied with the way we played, but we have to recover for tomorrow, because this is how it works in EuroBasket," said the Israeli coach, Zvi Sherf, speaking from experience.

Lior Eliyahu tried to save some of Israel's pride and managed to collect 17 points, but Russia kept hammering and finished the game with a 34 point win.

National teams don't often hire foreign coaches and, as a consequence, rarely do we see one going head-to-head against his own country's side.

However, this will be the case tonight as Russia's David Blatt goes up against his home country for the past two and a half decades – Israel.

After a top performance last night, Andrei Kirilenko would like to continue his good rhythm. But against a tough Israeli defense it won't be so easy.

Yotam Halperin, who went for game-highs of 20 points and six assists in Israel's loss to Greece

		Halperin will continue to carry the load offensively for Israel

last night, will look to lead his team to success over Russia.

Last Time Out: Russia started off on the right foot with a key 73-65 win over Serbia that sent out a clear message. Israel, as expected, made life tough on defending champions Greece but eventually conceded defeat 76-66.

Key Match-up: Israel's chances to win will depend on slowing down Kirilenko. After posting 24 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks in his team's opening game, he now has everyone's attention. Taking him down won't be easy but Zvika Sherf's side might have a solution for that. Guy Pniny is one tough defensive stopper who specialises in taking a player out of his comfort zone and Kirilenko might be his task for the night. Pniny, still standing in the shadow of bigger names on the Israeli squad, is also a big-time winner who steps up in crunch time.

Statistics: Israel dominated the boards 38-28 against Greece, a big and strong team in the paint. That was an unexpected area Israel managed to control and if they repeat that effort tonight, they'll have a good chance of coming out on top. The Russian side managed only four steals last night but still played good, aggressive defense that held Serbia to only 65 points. That shows Russia is here to work hard. If they maintain that attitude against Israel, they'll be one step closer to their second win.

X-Factor: Emotions will play a big part here on both ends. Blatt was appointed to coach the Israeli national team before the additional qualifying round but quit right before training camp started, for technical reasons. Sherf was called upon to take the empty seat and the rest is history. Now they go head-to-head. Pride and emotions will be big factors.

What It Means: Russia need this win to gain more confidence and keep the momentum going after beating Serbia yesterday. Obviously staying undefeated after two games will guarantee Russia the spot in the next round. Israel doesn't want to hear more compliments after another loss that could hurt the team spirit. It's time to win. One way or another, the door to the next round will stay open even in case of a loss.