Tevin Falzon sent the Ta’ Qali pavilion into raptures on Thursday night when the Maltese international scored a last-second three-pointer to hand the national team a heart-stopping 72-70 win over Azerbaijan in the FIBA Championship for Small Countries.
Trailing by two points and with only three seconds remaining on the clock, Nathan Xuereb found Tevin Falzon deep into the left flank and the Maltese forward let fly a shot from outside the arc to score a dramatic three-pointer at the buzzer to hand his team victory.
“They took the lead late and it was back and forth, putting us in a tough position with three seconds left,” Falzon told the Times of Malta.
“It was a hard-fought game, but we ended up with the last possession and I took the shot and we won. It was a good win, more importantly, it was good to win both group games to have a better position heading into the semi-final but now we have to win more games.”
The Ta’ Qali Pavilion exploded with joy as the Maltese national team had scored a dramatic win over one of the gold medal favourites in the tournament but more importantly booked their place into Saturday’s semi-finals after topping Group A with two wins out of two.
Malta will now await the winner of Friday’s match between Azerbaijan and San Marino for a place in Sunday’s final.
