Portuguese Shock Latvia For Third Straight Triumph

The amazing basketball story that is Portugal lives on after a 93-92 home upset over Latvia on Saturday.
The Baltic men, who had already clinched a place in next year's EuroBasket, lost the Group B qualifying game to their nemesis and now may end up with second place in the pool if FYR of Macedonia win their last Division A clash against Estonia later in the night.
Meanwhile, Moncho Lopez's Portugal have rebounded from an 0-3 start that had disaster written all over it to seal a place in next year's Additional Qualifying Round. Their 3-3 record will be good enough to compete for the one place that will still be on offer for EuroBasket 2009 in Poland.
In this contest, the Portuguese beat the Latvians at their own game by making an eye-popping 19 three-pointers from 36 attempts. They also had to maintain their poise after blowing a big second-half advantage.