Hungary’s men’s basketball team was left licking its wounds after a 88-59 defeat at the hands of Croatia as they continued their preparations for the European Championship qualifiers.

Croatia raced into a 31-9 by the end of the first quarter.

They took the second 20-13, the third 21-19 before losing the fourth 18-16 as they eased up with the game easily won.

Two of Hungary’s key players did not play with Kornel David not released by his Spanish club Tau Ceramica while Robert Gulyas of Spartak Moscow was not fit for action.

The only Hungarian player to impress was the Croatia-based Marton Bader who made 13 points.

The teams will meet again on Sunday in Zadar where Hungary will hope for a better performance.

Hungary
Balazs Simon (Telekom Baskets Bonn), Istvan Nemeth (Sopot), Zalan Meszaros (Atomer), Laszla Kalman (Falco KC), Akos Horvath (Kecskemet), Gergely Fodor (Albacomp), Gabor Denes (Kaposvar), Tibor Pankar (Falco KC), Tamas Kaman (ZTE), Laszlo Czigler (Atomer), Marton Bader (Cibona Zagreb), Ern Sitku (Debrecen), Henrik Gobi (Albacomp), Zoltan Bencze (Albacomp).