Armenia lose to Norway in final EuroBasket 2029 pre-qualifier

The Armenia national basketball team has completed its EuroBasket 2029 pre-qualification campaign. In the final game of the group stage, Armenia lost away to Norway 116-103.

The game turned into a high-scoring contest, but Norway took control in the first quarter and kept their advantage until the final buzzer. The quarters ended 32-20, 31-27, 30-29 and 27-23 in favor of the hosts.

Justinian Jessup makes Armenia debut

The main event of the game for Armenia was the debut of Bayern Munich forward Justinian Jessup. The 28-year-old American took the naturalized player spot in the national team and immediately delivered a strong performance.

Jessup scored 25 points, added 4 rebounds and provided 4 assists. He became one of Armenia’s top performers in the game against Norway.

Speight-Mkrtchyan and Kirakosyan also score over 20 points

Armenia captain Andre Speight-Mkrtchyan also scored 25 points. Daniel Kirakosyan added 21 points, while David Khachatryan finished the game with 10 points. The rest of Armenia’s players scored fewer than 10 points.

Despite the strong scoring performances from the leaders, Armenia could not stop Norway’s offense, as the Norwegian team defeated Armenia for the second time in this pre-qualification campaign.

Armenia finish the group without a win

Armenia finished bottom of the group after losing all 4 of their games. The team was beaten by both Bulgaria and Norway at home and away.

Armenia’s full results in the EuroBasket 2029 pre-qualifiers:

Bulgaria — Armenia — 98-88
Armenia — Norway — 62-72
Armenia — Bulgaria — 80-100
Norway — Armenia — 116-103

Armenia therefore ended the current round of EuroBasket 2029 pre-qualification without a victory, although the final game against Norway was the team’s highest-scoring performance of the campaign.