Erez Edelstein believes Israel showed great character to qualify for the 2015 Eurobasket finals with a game to spare.
Having been forced to move home matches to Cyprus, Israel fought back well from an opening match defeat against Montenegro to win Group B in style.
Victories over Holland and Bulgaria were followed by an 80-65 success in the return match against Montenegro, and an 83-60 win over Holland in Nicosia sealed Israel’s progress.
NBA stars Gal Mekel and Omri Casspi put in a series of eye-catching performances and Edelstein is confident of further success next summer.
"This was a strange campaign, with no home games and a lot of injuries, but character and motivation pulled us through," said Edelstein.
Having qualified for the finals for the 12th consecutive year, Israel are one of eight countries that have bid to stage the showpiece event after organisers deemed Ukraine was not safe due to unrest in the region.
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