EUROBASKET QUALIFIERS

Daniel Hackett was Italy's second best scorer with 10 points as 11 players registered points on the scoresheet

Italy made it five wins from five games in Group F of the EuroBasket Qualifying Round after an 82-70 success in Portugal to move to the verge of booking their spot in Slovenia next year.

It was a powerful start which gave the Italians the platform to take the win after they jumped out to a commanding 22-9 lead after the first stanza.

And, when they subsequently outscored the home team 16-10 ahead of half-time, the result looked a foregone conclusion but Portugal did wag its' tail in the final quarter to briefly give the Italians something to think about.

Down 59-42, Portugal scored the first ten points of the fourth quarter but the notion of a fairytale fight-back and first win of the summer was crushed by Marco Cusin who threw one down to get the scoreboard ticking over again for his team.

With the three-point threat of Jaime Silva and the ever present danger posed by Joao Gomes, Italy couldn't relax and they made sure they slammed the comeback door firmly shut down the stretch in a real team performance.