The AS Monaco guard scored 12 points in the final 5 minutes for Poland
Jordan Loyd's hot hand helps Poland past Slovenia
Članak
5 Min čitanja
With the crowd at Spodek Arena in Katowice, Poland, rocking, Jordan Loyd etched his name into Polish basketball history with a magnificent first half and an even better finish that sparked his team to a 95-105 defeat of Slovenia and Luka Doncic on Thursday evening. The AS Monaco guard scored 19 of his 32 points in the first half and then erupted late to wrap up the win in what was the opening game for both teams at the EuroBasket 2025.
Loyd made 3 three-pointers and added 2 free throws in the opening quarter. Poland led by 4 after 10 minutes and then Loyd hit twice more from deep and sank another 2 foul shots in the second quarter to keep Poland ahead.
He was quiet in the third quarter, which he abandoned early when he was called for his fourth foul. Loyd spent nearly 8 minutes of game time on the bench before coming back with 6:05 left in the fourth quarter and Poland clinging to a 9-point lead.
Loyd didn’t need long to get going. He sank a pair of free throws with 4:49 remaining. A minute later, Loyd split the defense and pulled up for his first basket of the second half. His fadeaway jumper over Dubai Basketball's Klemen Prepelic with 1:21 left to play all but iced the game. Then Loyd beat the shot clock with a triple with 51.1 that started the celebrations… And he added a final three from the top of the key with 10 seconds to go.
When the final buzzer sounded, Loyd could be seen smiling and thanking the Polish fans for their support, which helped him shoot as well from three-point land as he did from the foul line, making 7 of 8 at each distance in compiling a PIR of 30.
"Full team win," Loyd said after the game. "That goes for the staff, everybody that stepped foot on the floor, even guys that didn't play. Preparation like a lot goes into it. So, everybody that played tonight showed a lot of class showed a lot of effort, and our coaches and all of our staff got us prepared. I was just telling them we really knew the game plan and we executed, so I'm just happy that we were able to get the win."
When told that his scoring effort was one of the best EuroBasket debuts in competition history, Loyd responded: "I guess that's kind of crazy. A lot of guys have come through and played in this tournament, so for me it's just… nice to be able to showcase what I can do. But it's just one game. I'm never too high, never too low. So, that's great that there's some stats and stuff like that out there, but for me, I've always been about winning, so if I would have had this game and we'd lost, it would have been a tough, tough day. So, as long as we win the game, I'm good."
Bahcesehir College Istanbul forward Mateusz Ponitka played a major role for the winners too with 23 points and 7 rebounds.
Doncic paced Slovenia in defeat with 34 points and 9 assists.