Croatia is looking good leading up the 2009 Eurobasket tournament; taking the 2009 Efes Pilsen Cup by downing F.Y.R. of Macedonia 90-83 in the finals.

(Discuss the Efes Pilsen Cup in our forum)

Croatia was a perfect 3-0 in the tournament, defeating Germany (75-62), Latvia (96-81), and finally Macedonia for the title.

Roko Ukic led the Croats in the tournament, averaging 17.6 points and 5 assists, and was named MVP of the three-game tournament. Ukic who plays in the NBA, was traded from the Toronto Raptors to the Milwaukee Bucks during this offseason.

“I’m happy that we won (the Efes Pilsen Cup) again,” Ukic said, “but now we must prepare for the EuroBasket.”

“We want to take another step this year, more than in the past two events. Certainly we are one of the best five or six teams,” Ukic continued. “We want to go the Semi-Finals, try to take a medal and we’ll do whatever we can to achieve this.”

Team Croatia features a very balanced attack with Davor Kus, Marko Popovic, Nikola Vujcic, Zoran Planinic, and Mario Kasun. Croatia will play in Group A of the Eurobasket tournament, along with F.Y.R. of Macedonia, Greece, and Israel.