Ireland edged 76-75 by Azerbaijan in FIBA EuroBasket 2029 Pre-Qualifiers

A second half comeback from Ireland fell agonisingly short, as they lost 76-75 to Azerbaijan in their FIBA EuroBasket 2029 Pre-Qualifier on Friday at the National Basketball Arena. It’s a major blow to qualification for the second round, with head coach Michael Bree stating: “Anything can happen in sport, but it is going to be very, very hard for us to advance.” 

It was a tight opening quarter, threes from Sean Flood and Matt Zona, either side of a turnaround and dunk from Neal Quinn, edged Ireland 11-10 in front with four minutes gone. CJ Fulton, back in the Ireland jersey for the first time since August 2023, got his first points six minutes in, to bring the game level at 13-13.

 Neal Quinn celebrates after a dunk in the FIBA EuroBasket 2029 Pre-Qualifiers against Azerbaijan at the National Basketball Arena

A long range three by Wesley Van Beck had Azerbaijan 18-15 up with a little over a minute to go. Fulton helped ensure Ireland would lead by the end of the quarter with a layup and an assist for Ryan Leonard’s layup. The basket from Leonard - who was making his EuroBasket debut – ensured Ireland went 19-18 ahead by the end of the first. 

Van Beck opened the second quarter with a three and two free throws, to put Azerbaijan 23-19 up. A shot clock buzzer-beating three from Jordan Blount narrowed the deficit. Kamran Mammadov responded moments later with a three, but Ireland were now finding their range, threes from Zona and Sam Alajiki and another Quinn dunk nudged back in front 30-26 with four minutes gone.

El Capitanooooo, Sean Flood 💯#GreenMeansGo ☘️ | #IrishBasketball pic.twitter.com/KfdlKDtiIK

— Basketball Ireland (@BballIrl) February 27, 2026

Azerbaijan got a run of three’s through Jabrayik Akbarov, Mammadov and two from Van Beck, which helped them into a 39-32 lead with four minutes to go in the second. That scoring sequence was finally snapped by an Alajiki three, but Azerbaijan would lead 41-35 at half-time.

Back-to-back threes from Van Beck and Amil Hamzayev in the opening 40 seconds of the third quarter saw Azerbaijan 47-35 up and prompted an early timeout from Ireland head coach Michael Bree. Ireland came out of it with a Fulton driving layup, before Van Beck’s sixth from the three-point line put the away side 50-37 to the good. Van Beck was fouled out of the game not long afterwards, picking up an unsportsmanlike foul after colliding with Alajiki, he’d finish with 20 points. A pair of Blount free throws and a alley oop dunk from Quinn would follow, Ireland trailed 50-41 a minute and a half in.

Azerbaijan’s lead would be up to 16 points, 57-41, following Saadettin Donat’s layup with a little over four minutes to go in the quarter. At 1’50" to go in the quarter Alajiki returned sporting a bandage for his facial injury, his two free throws in the final seconds, following a Zona corner three, cut the deficit to five, Ireland 59-54 behind.

Alajiki got the crowd off their feet with a dunk to open the fourth quarter. Another Zona corner three and a pair of Flood free throws had Ireland in front, 62-61, two and a half minutes into the quarter. Midway through the quarter a deep three from Hamzayev put Azerbaijan 67-62 ahead. Again Ireland came battling back, Flood’s three with 2’44 to go saw Michael Bree’s team trail 72-70.

Azerbaijani captain Hamzayev’s three with 1’33” to go saw them re-establish a five point cushion. Ireland responded with a corner three from Flood with 1’11 remaining. Mammadov slotted one of his two free throws to make it a three-point game, 76-73, but Ireland had possession with 15.4 seconds left and a driving layup from Flood closed it 76-75. Azerbaijan missed two free throws after that and a buzzer beating attempt from deep inside his own half by Alajiki rimmed out, to give the away side the narrowest of wins.

Ireland head coach, Michael Bree, said: “I’m frustrated, a little bit disappointed in the result, I think we were good enough to win this game, we were prepared enough to get the result. I don’t think we performed well in the first half, I think they made some tough shots, fair dues to them, I think we facilitated by our lack of aggression in certain areas. Offensively we didn’t connect the way we should connect, we didn’t do it throughout the game, there were opportunities there for us to exploit they were playing defence and we didn’t do it, not on a consistent basis.”

 Ireland head coach Mike Bree ahead of tip-off

Ireland are now 0-3 and only the group winners and best ranked second placed team from three groups advancing to the second round of qualifying. Asked about Ireland’s chances, Bree added: “Sport is crazy, anything can happen, but we’re not helping ourselves at the moment, but anything can happen in sport, but it is going to be very, very hard for us to advance. This was never the ultimate goal, the ultimate goal was to try to re-establish who we want to be, build a philosophy behind it and grow from there. We’ve got a lot of young guys, a lot of guys with a lot of potential that we want to develop as we go along and these are part of the learning curves.” 

Ireland face Luxembourg at the National Basketball Arena on Monday, concluding their campaign with a pair of away games against North Macedonia and Azerbaijan in July.

 

Quarter Scores:

Q1: 19-18, Q2: 16-23, Q3: 19-18, Q4: 21-17

Game Scores:

Q1: 19-18, Q2: 35-41, Q3: 54-59, Q4: 75-76

Ireland:

Adrian O’Sullivan (0), CJ Fulton (7), Sean Fitzpatrick (DNP), Ryan Leonard (2), Sean Flood (18), Jordan Blount (5), James Gormley (DNP), Matt Zona (15), Eoin Nelson (0), Neal Quinn (14), Sam Alajiki (14). 

Azerbaijan:

Emmanuel Agbason (2), Wesley Van Beck (20), Ulas Turgut (9), Elshad Shirzadov (DNP), Jabrayil Akbarov (5), Amil Hamzayev (11), Kamran Mammadov (18), Ercan Donat (DNP), Derin Berkoz (1), Saadettin Donat (10), Endar Poladkhanli (0), Shirzad Shirzadov (0).