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Hezonja helps Croatia win, Bogdanovic hurt

Xinhua, September 6, 2015 Adjust font size:

Orlando Magic great prospect Mario Hezonja helped Croatia beat Slovenia 80-73 on Saturday, opening day of EuroBasket 2015 Group C tournament in Arena Zagreb.

Hezonja, 20, the youngest member of Croatian basketball national team scored the first basket, a 3-pointer, for his team at this event and had a significant role with 13 points and 6 rebounds in this victory against neighboring rivals from Slovenia.

Kruno Simon, 30, had 20 points and center Luka Zoric added 17 points. Damjan Rudez of Minnesota Timberwolves hit a go ahead 3-pointer for Croatia and dished out 3 assists.

Hezonja's performance was overshadowed by Bojan Bogdanovic injury. Brookly Nets shooting guard took a hard fall in the middle of the third quarter and stayed on the floor for several minutes. The doctors had to help him stand up and seat him on the bench. Even though he was not feeling well, Bogdanovic tried to persuade Croatian national head coach Velimir Perasovic to put him back on court. But Perasovic listened to doctors and didn't let Bogdanovic to take any part until the end of the match.

"You know how stubborn he can be. He tried to persuade mi five times to let him in. After what the doctors told me I wouldn't do it for anything in the world. There is no such a result or such a game that I would risk someone's health to win it," Croatian national coach Velimir Perasovic said.

Several hours after the game Bogdanovic went to the hospital for a detailed checkup to learn the exact extent of his head injury, as confirmed by Croatian doctors.

Bogdanovic, 26, scored nine points before he took a hard fall with the back of his head hitting the court after a layup in the third quarter of Croatia's Group C opener against Slovenia. As he brings almost 20 points every night to the table he will be hardly missed in Croatian squad if he will be forced to skip some games at the EuroBasket 2015.

With Bogdanovic possibly out there will be more minutes for Hezonja who debuted for Croatia at the World Cup 2014 in Spain last summer. He saw some limited time on the court and didn't have enough chances to show how talented he is. One year later Hezonja became a starting forward for Croatian squad.

"Nothing has changed since last year. I was ready then for a bigger role, I am ready now and I will be ready again next year," Hezonja said.

If Croatia makes it through to the final game of EuroBasket 2015, that will be played on September 20 in Lille, France. Hezonja will have to get ready for the clash with some big stars at 2016 Olympics.

It's a dream of every player and the dream of Croatian supporters. They still remember times when winning bronze medals at World Cup or Eurobasket wasn't good enough.

There is not enough time for Croatian players to celebrate and enjoy this important victory, because on Sunday they will fight against strong Greek team that beat Macedonia on Saturday. Croatia will seek another win and a strong possibility to go to the knockout stage of EuroBasket 2015 staged in Lille as the best team from Group C. Endi