Cyprus suffered a 91-64 defeat at the hands of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the opening night of EuroBasket at the Spyros Kyprianou arena in Limassol.

Thursday was Cyprus’ national basketball team’s first ever runout at Europe’s premier basketball competition, but it did not go to plan, with the Bosnians, led by NBA star Jusuf Nurkic of the Utah Jazz, dominating their hosts.

Nurkic scored 18 points of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s 91, with the rest of the points being shared across the team’s roster.

Amar Gegic, Amar Alibegovic, and Adin Vrabac scored ten points each, and every Bosnian who appeared on the court except for one, Adnan Arslanagic, made it onto the scoresheet.

On a chastening night for Cyprus, Konstantinos Simitzis of Petrolina Aek Larnaca was a ray of hope, with the 30-year-old scoring 22 of the hosts’ 64 points.

Twenty-two-year-old Filippos Tigkas of Strovolos-based Keravnos chipped in with 12 points of his own, but these points served only as consolations, with the Cypriots outclassed by the away side on the night.

Cyprus will next take to the court when they face Greece on Saturday, with their third game coming against Spain on Sunday.

They will then play Georgia on Tuesday, before their final group game will be played on Thursday against Italy.

The top four teams in their six-team group will qualify for the next round, with all fixtures in Group C to be played in Limassol.