International

Feb 20 2025

Ireland lose 85-54 to Group A winners Switzerland in FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Pre-Qualifiers

Ireland were beaten 85-54 by Group A winners Switzerland on Thursday in their FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 European Pre-Qualifiers fixture in Fribourg, to end their hopes of reaching the second round of qualifying, ahead of their final game against Azerbaijan in Baku on Sunday.

Ireland and Kosovo are level in Group A with 2-3 records, following Kosovo’s narrow 81-79 home win over Azerbaijan, who dropped to 1-4. Only the group winners and the best runner-up from three groups advance to the second round, with the results against the fourth placed team in Group A removed. It means that even if Ireland finish second with victory over Azerbaijan, along with a defeat for Kosovo against Switzerland on the final matchday, it wouldn’t be enough to advance.

Ireland got the opening points of the game against the Swiss, through Neal Quinn’s jump shot. Kyle Hosford, playing his first international since 2022 after coming out of retirement, landed from the three point line to bring the game level at 8-8 with just under three minutes gone. A Neal Quinn layup saw Ireland trail by one, 13-12, midway through the first quarter. But Switzerland finished the opening quarter strongly and would lead 30-16 by the end of it, Dylan Ducommun doing much of the damage by scoring 10 points.

Neal Quinn, who finished as Ireland's top scorer on 18 points, battles for possession with Toni Rocak of Switzerland during their FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 European Pre-Qualifiers game in Fribourg

Ireland began the second quarter strongly, a seven point run through jump shots from Neal Quinn and John Carroll either side of Conor Quinn’s three, saw them trail 31-23 three and a half minutes in. There were FIBA Basketball World Cup debut’s for James Hannigan and Sean Jenkins in this game, a basket from the Griffith College Éanna man and the gap was eight points, Ireland trailing 33-25 with four and a half minutes to go in the quarter. The Swiss were proving clinical from the three point line, Selim Fofana had two of them in the second quarter, there was a long-range one from Ducommun to finish the half, which handed the home side a 48-31 half-time advantage.

Ireland needed a big third quarter, Toni Rocak’s early layup was cancelled out by John Carroll’s layup early on. Kevin Martina’s dunk had Switzerland 56-33 up and they’d lead 67-40 by the end of the quarter.

A pair of Rapolas Buivydas free throws and Adrian O’Sullivan three’s gave Ireland the perfect start to the fourth, trailing 67-45. Boris Mbala only had 5 points by the end of the third quarter, before he exploded into life in the fourth, started by a lovely one-handed dunk to get the home crowd on their feet. Switzerland continued to land from the three point line - Ducommun and Mbala converted either side of Jordan Blount’s three for Ireland, Switzerland 79-50 ahead just before the quarter midpoint. Mbala landed three more from the three point line after that, to help bring his tally to a game-high 19 points and seal an 85-54 victory.

Ireland head coach Mark Keenan said: “It’s very hard to put my finger on it now, we got off to a very slow start which didn’t help, giving up 30 points in the first quarter, it just meant we were chasing the game the whole time. If you told me that Switzerland were going to score 85 before the game I’d have said ‘yeah we can be in that game’, but we really struggled to score, 16 points in the first quarter, nine points in the third quarter – that really undid us. We battled hard to try and get under that 20 point mark, but Mbala came up with some huge three pointers in the fourth quarter with the shotclock running out that kind of broke our hearts.”

Asked about Ireland’s next fixture in Baku against Azerbaijan on Sunday, Keenan added: “We want to bounce back, we’re not happy with that performance, so we have to put it right for ourselves now on Sunday in the last game in the group. We will regroup, we’ll shake that off now, because we’re on the road tomorrow and we can’t dwell. We want to try and finish the campaign positively and we will be going after a win in Azerbaijan.”

Quarter Scores:

Q1: 30-16, Q2: 18-15, Q3: 19-9, Q4: 18-14

Game Scores:

Q1: 30-16, Q2: 48-31, Q3: 67-40, Q4: 85-54

Ireland:

Adrian O’Sullivan (3), James Hannigan (0), David Lehane (0), Rapolas Buivydas (2), Sean Jenkins (2), Sean Flood (6), Conor Quinn (3), Jordan Blount (12), John Carroll (5), Matt Treacy (0), Kyle Hosford (3) Neal Quinn (18).

Switzerland:

Boris Mbala (19), Yoan Granvorka (11), Paul Gravet (6), Selim Fofana (17), Toni Rocak (8), Yuri Solca (0), Laurent Zoccoletti (2), Jamal Jelani Deon George (2), Noe Anabir (2), Dylan Ducommun (16), Robert Zinn (0), Kevin Martina (2)

FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 European Pre-Qualifiers Results:

Thursday 20^th February 2025

Switzerand 85-54 Ireland

Sunday 24^th November 2024

Ireland 91-85 Kosovo

Thursday 21st November 2024

Ireland 91-67 Azerbaijan

Sunday 24^t August 2024

Ireland 91-85 Kosovo

Thursday 22^nd February 2024

Kosovo 83-76 Ireland

Sunday 25^th Feburary 2024