3 out of 3! Romania qualified in the preliminaries of the World Championship of 2027, after another victory with Northern Macedonia

Romania started perfectly the second phase of precalifications for the 2027 World Basketball Championship and won 2 wins: one on the move (80-72 on the land of North Macedonia) and one at home (76-64 in front of Hungary).

As a result, the return with North Macedonia was an important chance for “tricolors” to ensure their presence in the world preliminaries. In the tour, Emanuel Căți, Lucas Tohătan and Dragoș Diculescu were the leaders of Romania, while the naturalized American Jacob Wiley, who in the meantime signed with Rytas Vilnius, was the unstoppable weapon of the Balkans.

Leaded by Stefan Grasu, Romania dominated the first half

In an Oradea Arena half full, with fans dressed in the national shirts, in those of the CSM Oradea and U-BT Cluj-Napoca rivals, but also in Pestriță shirts, Romania started the match and coach Marjan Ilievski requested time-out after less than 2 minutes of play.

Ștefan Grasu continued to throw very well from a distanceand the defense worked at maximum capacity. The Macedonians tried to do Presing as they did in Kumanovo, but in the first phase, it did not work.

The situation changed after Mihai Silvășan began to introduce his reserves on the field. Although the desire was seen, Dragoș Lungu and Christian Nițu showed their youth, and Nandor Kuti seemed uncomfortable as a playing leader.

On the other side, Wiley dominated and, when North Macedonia approached a point (31-30), the Romanian coach requested a rest time. Grasu and Bobe Nicolescu immediately replied with a “triple”, and our national team has controlled the last part of the first half, both in attack and defense.

As a result, at the break, the score was 45-34 for Romania, the leaders of the hosts being Stefan Grasu (14 points) and Emanuel Căți (8 points). For guests, Jacob Wiley succeeded 12 points, and Andrej Mitrevski and Andrej Magdevski had 8 points each.

Romania managed the complicated end with maturity and won the victory

After returning from the locker rooms, the “tricolors” had some problems on the offensive, and Silvășan sent them from the edge: “Let's find throws!“There was a 3-point basket of Grasu, who led to a partial of Romania and the score became 50-36.

Northern Macedonia offered a solid reply and approached 7 points, 54-47, but the hosts managed this situation with a positional game, based on the connection between Nandor Kuti and Rareș Uță, and, before quarter 4, the score was 59-49 for Romania.

In the first minutes of the decisive act, without Wiley on the ground, The guests maintained the difference of 10 points and a spectacular ending was announced. With 6 minutes and 30 seconds left from quarter 4, Macedonia halved the deficit, 64-59, and Silvășan asked for time-out.

The same Grasu continued his exception evolution and scored a new basket from a distance, and Romania remained in charge. There was a complicated moment for “tricolors”, which were increasingly wrong in the attack, giving opponents the chance to approach dangerous.

Kuti's inspiration and defense aggression have made the score remain to the advantage of “eagles”. The opponents forced remote throws and, Finally, Victoria returned to Romania, score 79-66.

The leaders of the winner were Ștefan Grasu (20 points), Rareș Uță (11 points), Emanuel Căți (10 points), Nandor Kuti (8 points) and Bobe Nicolescu (8 points).

On the other side, Jacob Wiley (19 points), Andrej Magdevski (13 points) and Andrej Mitrevski (11 points) were noted.

At this time, Romania is the leader of Group E, with 3 wins from 3 matchesand can be maintained in this position in the event of a success with Hungary or a defeat to a maximum of 11 points. Otherwise, the “tricolors” will end in the second place, but will qualify in the world championship preliminaries.

Romania's results and program in the second phase of precalifications

• August 2, Kumanovo: Northern Macedonia-Romania (72-80)

• August 6, Oradea: Romania-Hungary (76-64)

• August 13, Oradea: Romania-North Macedonia (79-66)

• August 16, Szolnok: Hungary – Romania (7pm)