Humiliated! On Wednesday at the Olah Gabor Arena stadium in Debrecen, Hungary, the Cedars U19s were given a thrashing (20-102) by their Spanish counterparts in the play-off round of the 2023 Under-19 Basketball World Cup.
The Lebanese team, who finished bottom of Group B in the first round after three consecutive defeats, was playing the last-gasp game if it hoped to qualify for the quarter-finals… in vain. The Spanish team left the Lebanese with nothing but crumbs, winning all four quarters of the match (Quarter 1: 29-2, Quarter 2: 33-4, Quarter 3: 22-10, Quarter 4: 18-4) and giving their opponents a great lesson in basketball. The Lebanese, distraught and disintegrated as they were crushed by the Spanish, were unable to find the spark that would have enabled them to lift their heads above the water and rediscover their fighting spirit.
Now “eliminated,” Lebanon finds itself forced to play classification matches, hoping to avoid ending up in the last place.
