Israel defeated Ukraine 86-73 as the blue-and-white broke open a tight game in the third quarter to take the win and move to 2-1 in 2025 Eurobasket qualifying. In a game that was a home game for Ukraine played in Riga, Latvia due to the security situation in the country, Head Coach Ariel Beit Halachmi’s squad had a tough time out of the gate against a very game Ukraine.

But Khadeen Carrington, who was playing his first game with the national team since becoming a naturalized citizen, kept Israel in the game but down 37-36 at halftime. However, Yam Madar, Tomer Ginat and Idan Zalmanson broke the game open in the third quarter to go up by 10 points, 65-55 as the blue-and-white closed out the victory in the final frame.

Beit Halachmi’s squad will play Ukraine once again on Monday (8pm) in Latvia as the host due to the ongoing war in the Holy Land and should Israel win they will qualify for the Eurobasket that will begin play at the end of August. The group stages of the European Championships will take place in four countries, Cyprus, Poland, Finland and Latvia with the knockout stages slated to be played in September in Riga.

Madar scored 21 points, Carrington and Ginat each added 18 points while Roman Sorkin checked in with a 13 point and 10 rebound double-double in the win. Artem Pustovyi scored 23 points and Oleksandr Kovliar chipped in with 15 points in the loss.

“It was tough in the first half due to their size,” Beit Halachmi began. “But in the second half we did a better job. We shouldn’t take this win and celebrate too much as we have another game on Monday. We had a humber of days to prepare and you could see that in how we played. The entire team looked good but there is another game in 48 hours from now.”

The game MVP Yam Madar spoke about the win, “It’s always fun to play and come here to the National Team and help win such an important game. We came in here as a team and gave a good performance and we played the full 40 minutes to win this game. I am working hard and I’m here to really help out. There is nothing greater than this which brings so much pride than for the country. We hope that we can finish off the job on Monday and the key will be to play together.”

Khadeen Carrington also spoke about the victory as well as his debut in blue-and-white, “I just tried to come out and play my game, scoring and bringing energy. Everybody did their part and we had a great game. It felt great to represent Israel and I am grateful to the association for giving me this opportunity. We have to come out here on Monday and complete the job that we began.”

Bogdan Bliznyuk scored for Ukraine and Khadeen Carrington found a pair of baskets for Israel to get the game off and running, Yam Madar hit a jumper, Oleksandr Kovliar also scored to knot the game up at 8-8 midway through the first quarter. Tomer Ginat put in a floater, Oleksandr Lypovyy and Kovliar scored two straight baskets, Issuf Sanon drained the first 3-pointer of the game while Madar hit one as well but the hosts held a 19-16 lead after ten minutes of play.

Kovliar scored to begin the second quarter, Roman Sorkin matched him at the other end, Andrii Voinalovych scored on the inside, Ginat scored a pair of baskets and Carrington found points in transition to grab a 26-25 lead with 5:32 left in the first half. Bliznyuk went from deep and added a layup, Carrington drilled one in from beyond the arc, Artem Pustovyi and Ginat traded buckets, Iilya Sydorov went from downtown, Ben Saraf scored his first points with the senior national team but Ukraine took a 37-36 advantage into halftime.

Sorkin and Pustovyi traded baskets to start off the third quarter, Carrington dialed up from long distance, Sorkin cleaned up a Adam Ariel miss while Kovliar scored a layup to give Ukraine a 46-44 lead midway through the third quarter. Ginat put in a 3-point play, Pustovyi dunked, Madar went from deep and added a 3-point play, Bar Timor hit a super long triple, Pustovyi went for a 2-point play, Zalmanson put in a pair of deuces at the other end and assisted on an Oz Blayzer corner 3-ball as Israel went up 65-55 after thirty minutes of action.

Madar fed Sorkin for a alleyoop to get the fourth quarter underway, Ginat added points, Sorkin went from downtown, Sydorov hit a runner, Kovliar drained a triple, Ginat and Sydorov traded 3-pointers while Madar scored a reverse bucket and another one from deep to hand Israel the win.