RIGA, Latvia – Lauri Markkanen scored 17 factors and blocked 4 photographs to steer Finland to a 93-79 win over Georgia on Wednesday that sees the Nordic nation by way of to the semi-finals of Eurobasket for the primary time.
The Finns will face Germany in Friday’s semi-final after the Germans got here from behind to defeat Slovenia 99-91 on the again of a blistering fourth-quarter efficiency, with previous foes Turkey and Greece dealing with off within the different recreation within the closing 4.
Extra identified for his or her exploits in ice hockey, the Finns shocked the basketball world by defeating favourites Serbia within the final 16, and although they led for many of the recreation, they needed to survive a spirited third-quarter fight-back by the Georgians.
Markkanen made plenty of key performs all through the sport and obtained loads of assist from his teammates. High scorer Mikael Jantunen netted 19 factors and hit three of his seven three-pointers, with the bench chipping in with a whopping 44 factors.
“It was a fairly typical efficiency for us – we take the lead, then it will get thrilling and we find yourself successful on the finish,” Markkanen stated with typical understatement.
“Our play was a bit up and down at first of the match, (however) now we now have gotten higher in each match and an important factor is that we hold going like that,” Jantunen added.
—Reuters
