In the basketball home match of the countries preparing for the Men’s World Cup, Lithuania got revenge on Finland on its home court.
The wolf gang tormented Lithuania until the very last second, but succumbed to Lithuania 80-84 (45-43) in a packed hall in Klaipeda. The two countries met ten days ago in a national match in Tampere, when Susijengi was even better 81–79.
Finland had difficulties at times in the last period. During that time, Lithuania escaped to a lead of ten points at the most, 77–67, when Finland’s attack lacked rhythm and, in addition, the team collapsed into two consecutive turnovers.
In the last three minutes Lassi Tuovin however, the protectors did not give in easily. After the extra time, the hearty Susijengi was faithful to his ways and still got involved in the winning struggle when Lauri Markkanen and Sasu Salin sank consecutive three-pointers into the basket.
However, after getting within four points (73–77), Finland left points at the free throw line, while Lithuania did not make a mistake in their own attempts. It turned the tide for Lithuania at the last minute.
– We gave Lithuania one momentum too much in the final period and we had a few losses from the last-minute strike positions, but we once again made a good rise against a world-class basketball country. Let’s learn from the end of this match as a whole team and towards Latvia, Tuovi said.
Lithuania vaccinated Finland especially from close range Jonas Valanciunas (21/15) Donatas Motiejunas (12/3) in charge. Lithuania picked up 13 points from offensive rebounds.
Susigengi was at its best in team defense, from which it launched successful attacks. Finland scored a handsome 28 points from fast attacks. Lauri Markkanen excelled as the blue-whites’ cool finisher in the half-court attack, who scored 32/11/4s for the night.
The man who played his first men’s international match of the summer brought a lot of energy to the field Miro Little (5/5/7 assists), whose ball security, game management and defensive play immediately raised Susijeng’s collective self-confidence by a couple of notches.
– We have really been waiting for a while to return to Susijengi, and I noticed early on that there was enough enthusiasm. Sometimes it felt like I didn’t really stay in my shoes properly, Little, who played his first Susijengi match after last summer’s European Championship quarter-final, laughed.
In addition to Markkanen and Little, e.g. in the third episode, Valanciunas used it as a slalom stick for a while Olivier Nkamhoua (10/5/2 blocks) and especially in defense very sharp Elias Valtonen (7/4). Also got nine minutes of playing time Federico Federico was in his element in defense (2/1).
Susijengi will play its last national match before the Asian World Cup on Wednesday the 16th in Riga against Latvia.