Portugal recorded their first win in the qualifying round by beating Israel 94-85 this afternoon.

Both teams now have a 1-3 record in Group E and still hold a chance of qualifying to the quarter-finals.

After huge wins against Serbia and Croatia, some may have thought Israel would have an easier game against the team from Portugal - but that clearly wasn't the case.

"This victory is the confirmation of the work we have done in our preparation and of the

		Joao Gomes was huge for Portugal, recording a double-double with 23 points ans 11 rebounds.

attitude we have, which is to go out and win every game," said Portugal's Joao Santos.

"This is our second triumph at the EuroBasket and if our first was special, this is one is even more."

Valentyn Melnychuk's men, who have beaten Israel twice in the last qualifying campaign, were in control from the very first minute and never trailed thanks to a great preperation job by the veteran coach.

"All the things I was afraid about happened today. we started the game very bad, and didnt succeed in doing the things we like to do," said Israel's coach, Zvika Sherf.

"Portugal dominated the boards as they do in every game against us." he refered to the 45-25 difference under the boards.

By the time Israel got their act together, Portugal already held an 8-0 lead and were well on the way to a 28-14 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

Francisco Jordao collected nine points in that period alone while Yotam Halperin scored half of Israel's points.

The blue-and-white showed character and started their comeback early in the second quarter, but that didn't last too long.

Portugal got a boost from Mario-Gil Fernandes and Joao Santos who made big shots from behind the arc and recovered their double-digit lead, going into the locker room up 46-34.

"We chased them from the first second and it was difficult to close the gap," confessed Israel's forward, Guy Pnini, at the end of the game.

"We were very tired after the last two weeks to begin with, so to chase after such a quick and athletic team was a tough task."

Eliyahu continued to excel for Israel, but their opponents were just on fire.

Joao Gomes finished a half-court pass with a big alley-hoop and sliced the Israeli defense time after time as Portugal stretched their lead to 56-41 with 16 minutes left to play.

Gomes had another big alley-hoop before the end of the period and his team went into the final frame with a massive 65-48 advantage.

"We knew that Israel were a complicated team but we also knew we wanted to win and we played for the victory. We have fought hard," shared after the game Francisco Jordao.

But, with four minutes left, Santos committed his second unsportsmanlike foul in the game and had to leave.

Israel made the most of it.

Matan Naor came off the bench to sink his third three-pointer and make it just a nine point game, 73-64, with 3:36 to go which torubled Portugal slightly.

Israel's coach Zvi Sherf turned to a short line-up, and used a full-court pressure defense.

A minute later, Israel were only down by eight with the ball in their hands, but that’s where the comeback ended.

Gomes' dunk awoke Israel from their comeback fantasy for good and set the Portuguese bench on fire.

Portugal

Coach Valentyn Melnychuk: "I'm very glad and very happy. One more time we showed that Portuguese players can play basketball at a very high level. We worked very hard. Before the 2007 EuroBasket, we had very hard tournament friendlies against Russia, France, Germany, Czech and Italy. We played this hard tournament because the players don't have a lot of international experience of playing at a very high level. We know we can play against all teams and we believe in ourselves."

Filipe da Silva: "When we started the EuroBasket qualifying, nobody believed that we could make the EuroBasket. And when we got here nobody said we could win one game. Now in the second round, if we win two games, maybe we can go to the quarter-finals. We have to give our best one more time."

Israel

Coach Zvi Sherf: "All the things I was afraid about happened today. We started the game very bad. We didn't exceed in doing the things we like to do. In the second half and fourth quarter, we tried to cut the score but there were not a lot of chances. Portugal dominated
the boards as they do in every game against us. We came a long, long way together, and we will stay together."

Matan Naor: "All I can say is that I'm very, very sad. Portugal played very well. They started the game with an amazing percentage and it was too much. We were chasing them the whole game."

With a big wind at their back, momentum is on Israel's side as they attempt to win three straight games for the first time since 1985.

Portugal are trying to gain experience with every game and keep playing tough, never giving up whatever the score is. 

Does that sound familiar?

		Portugal need someone to step up and that someone could be Elvis Evora.

Israel, a tough fighting group themselves, will face a team who will match their intensity.

Last Time Out: Israel continued their "kill bill" trip against the former Yugoslavia countries with a big 80-75 win over Croatia. Portugal lost 65-78 to favorites Russia.

Head-to-Head: In the last two Qualifying games for EuroBasket 2005 and 2007 Portugal humiliated Israel, and cost them the direct ticket to the games. In 2004 they scored a big 101-96 win in Israel after an overtime. They lost the second leg but that game had no real meaning by then. Last summer, Portugal once again beat Israel on the road, 67-61, but then shocked with a 69-49 win that gave them the ticket to EuroBasket and sent Israel to the AQT.

Key Match-up: Tough nut here, as nobody in Portugal is a specific player you wish to stop. Not even a single guy averages double-digits in points, but then you have no less than six players who are scoring 7.5 – 9.5 points per game. Same goes in the rebounds department where nobody posts big numbers, but five players average between 3.1 – 5.1 rebounds per game. Portugal would like to stop center Yaniv Green, who has been dominating the last two games Israel won, while the blue-and-whites might want to focus on Francisco Jordao, a forward that can score both on the inside and outside.

Statistics: Both teams had different success depending on their shootings. Israel lost the first two games when they couldn't score more than 66 points, but won the last two when it scored 80 and 87 points. In their losses Portugal didn't pass the 68 points barrier, but when they beat Latvia, they managed to score 77.

X-Factor: It's all about character in this game. Israel is coming in with big momentum after beating two teams as the underdog. Now they will be considered the favorites, and it's going to be a totally different mind set for them. The need to revenge the aching losses in the qualifying rounds in the past years might help Israel here. Portugal needs to make it clear whether they are in this round to enjoy the moment or actually try to win some basketball games.

What It Means: If Croatia loses to Russia and Greece then a win here will be enough for Israel to make it to the quarter-finals. Portugal will be out of the race in case of a loss to Israel.