{"id":122612,"date":"2026-08-29T14:30:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T12:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/primasport.eu\/?p=122612"},"modified":"2026-08-29T14:51:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T12:51:24","slug":"italbasket-maschile-cede-78-76-in-casa-della-bosnia-erzogovina-resta-aperta-la-strada-per-il-mondiale-2027","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/primasport.eu\/en\/italbasket-maschile-cede-78-76-in-casa-della-bosnia-erzogovina-resta-aperta-la-strada-per-il-mondiale-2027\/","title":{"rendered":"The Italian men's basketball team lost 78-76 to Bosnia and Herzogovina, leaving the road to the 2027 World Cup open."},"content":{"rendered":"

TZULA (Bosnia and Herzegovina) \u2013 Italy lost 78-76 in Tuzla to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the first of two games in the first window of the second qualifying phase for the 2027 World Cup. However, their path to the World Championships in Doha is far from compromised, thanks also to the defeats of Lithuania in Turkey and Iceland in Serbia, but the Azzurri will be called upon to defeat the Serbians in Pesaro on Monday, August 31.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>It was a very tough match, as we expected \u2013 <\/span>Coach Luca Banchi's comment <\/span>It's never easy to play with such intensity at the start of the season. We prepared well and knew we had to match their physical impact, which was challenging. Unfortunately, after a promising start, we played a terrible second quarter, allowing Bosnia to gain confidence. I really liked their reaction in the second half, however, when we managed to put up some good defense and better impose our pace. Ultimately, there are some regrets: they did well to exploit all their talent and physicality in the paint, winning several second-half shots that ultimately cost us the game. Their impact under the basket was probably one of the keys to the game.<\/span>\u201c.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Tuzla Arena is what you would call a true \u201c<\/span>home field factor<\/span>\u201c, with five thousand fans packed into a packed arena already two hours before the start of the game. Lazi\u0107's initial triple barely managed to ignite the spirits, and there were boos when Melli's followed. Fontecchio and Alibegovi\u0107 hit threes, the physical duel between the Italian Captain and Nurki\u0107: the match was already in full swing after three minutes (8-9).
\nBoth teams made numerous mistakes, both aware of the weight of this first match of the second round. For the Bosnians, it was almost a last resort, given the standings. Tessitori made a strong impact, replacing Melli and keeping Italy ahead with four points with a minute and a half to go (12-17). However, within 90 seconds, the home team broke and, thanks to two turnovers, put together a 6-0 run that closed the quarter at 18-17 Bosnia.
\nKamenja\u0161 and Garza opened the second quarter, extending the run to 10-0, but Tessitori broke the drought. Nurki\u0107 showed off his size, but the Azzurri's attack was stagnant: only two points scored in six minutes of the second quarter (26-19 at the 16th). It was the most difficult period of the match for Italy, who found the basket again, albeit from the free throw line, with Melli making 3\/3 after being fouled on a three-point attempt. Fontecchio faced the same situation a minute later: he also made 3\/3. The team went into halftime trailing by 7 (34-27). <\/span><\/p>\n

At the start of the second half, Italy found the basket more fluently, but Bosnia was no exception with Alibegovi\u0107's three-pointer and Kamenja\u0161's points. Sal Niang stepped up, and with his five points, Italy revived, closing the gap to 43-39 at the 25th minute. Spagnolo was fouled and hit a perfect free throw, giving his team a two-point lead (43-41) after a 14-9 run that erased the nightmares of the first half. Clinging to their NBA icon, Bosnia once again found a driving force in Nurki\u0107: he scored the basket for a new seven-point lead (50-43) and loudly cheered on an already raucous crowd. Garza opened the final quarter, but Ricci hit a devastating three-pointer (60-57). The gap was slim, but Italy couldn't find the spark to catch up. The long-awaited spark arrived with Thompson's dunk and Baldasso's three-pointer. The score at 2 (64-62) forces coach Gjergja to call a timeout. Ricci hits a three after Garza's basket, and the score is down by one (66-65). Gegi\u0107 makes no mistake from the line, and the usual Nurki\u0107 pushes Banchi's team back (70-65 with 4 to play). It seems over, but it's time to tie it: Baldasso hits a three and Fontecchio dunks to make it 70-70 with two minutes left. Kamenja\u0161 makes 2 of 2, but Melli responds with a three to take the lead (73-72): finally, the Italy everyone has seen and appreciated throughout this World Cup campaign.
\nAlibegovi\u0107's three-pointer is a blast. Tonut responds to Nurki\u0107, the Bosnian number 0 is unstoppable: he's fouled and puts his team up by three with 13 seconds left (78-75). Baldasso makes a three-pointer from the inbounds, but he misses. The finale is crazy: Tonut goes 0-of-2, Niang rebounds and earns two more free throws, making both but committing a foul on the second. Bosnia makes progress on the inbounds, and Italy has one last chance: no chance, Bosnia and Herzegovina wins 78-76.<\/span><\/p>\n

The scoreboard<\/span><\/p>\n

Bosnia and Herzegovina-Italy 78-76 (18-17, 16-10, 24-27, 20-22)<\/span>
\nBosnia E.: Nurki\u0107* 25 (11\/15, 0\/4), Alibegovi\u0107* 12 (0\/1, 3\/4), Arslanagi\u0107 ne, Ati\u0107* 3 (1\/2, 0\/4), Vrabac 2 (1\/1, 0\/2), Gegi\u0107* 4 (1\/3, 0\/5), Lazi\u0107* 7 (2\/5, 1\/2), Tali\u0107 2 (1\/3, 0\/5), Guti\u0107 ne, Islamovi\u0107 ne, Kamenja\u0161 13 (4\/5, 0\/2), Garza 10 (4\/8). All: Gjergja
\nItaly: Mannion* 14 (1\/3, 2\/4), Tonut 4 (2\/4, 0\/1), Melli* 9 (0\/2, 2\/7), Fontecchio* 14 (4\/8, 1\/4), Thompson* 9 (376, 1\/3), Tessitori 4 (2\/6), Ricci 6 (0\/1, 2\/3), Spagnolo 2 (0\/1 three-pointer), Niang* 8 (1\/2), Ferrari ne, Baldasso 6 (0\/2, 2\/5), Emejuru. All: Banchi<\/span><\/p>\n

Two-pointers BiH 25\/43, Ita 13\/34; Three-pointers BiH 4\/28, Ita 10\/28; Free throws BiH 16\/21, Ita 20\/24. Rebounds BiH 46 (Nurki\u0107 14), Ita 37 (Melli, Fontecchio 6). Assist BiH 12 (Gegi\u0107 4), Ita 15 (Mannion 6).
\n5 fouls called: Ricci<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TZULA (Bosnia Erzegovina) – L\u2019Italia perde a Tuzla 78-76 contro la Bosnia Erzegovina la prima delle due gare della prima finestra della seconda fase di qualificazione al Mondiale 2027. Tuttavia, il percorso verso la rassegna iridata di Doha non \u00e8 affatto compromesso, complici anche le sconfitte della Lituania in Turchia e dell\u2019Islanda in Serbia ma […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":122613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sb_editor_width":"","h5ap_radio_sources":[],"footnotes":"","_ppma_block_editor_authors":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[2633,2632,1056,2627,2628,1523,2629,2630,2634,2631,1524],"ppma_author":[801],"class_list":["post-122612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basket","tag-amedeo-tessitori","tag-darius-thompson","tag-giampaolo-ricci","tag-italbasket","tag-luca-banchi","tag-matteo-spagnolo","tag-niccolo-mannion","tag-nicolo-melli","tag-saliou-niang","tag-simone-fontecchio","tag-stefano-tonut"],"relative_dates":{"created":"1 month ago","modified":"1 month ago"},"authors":[{"term_id":801,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"bonanni","display_name":"Red Com","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","first_name":"","last_name":"","user_url":"","author_category":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/primasport.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/primasport.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/primasport.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primasport.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primasport.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122612"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/primasport.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122615,"href":"https:\/\/primasport.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122612\/revisions\/122615"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primasport.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/primasport.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primasport.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primasport.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122612"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primasport.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=122612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}