The wolf gang to a phenomenal victory with a last-second solution! The super-hard Lithuania upset the record crowd in Tampere

The Finnish men’s national basketball team achieves victory against rock-hard Lithuania in front of a full Tampere arena. Mikael Jantunen decided the victory with his last-second basket from Lauri Markkanen’s pass.

Susijengi has defeated the basketball great country Lithuania in the national match preparing for the World Cup with scores of 81–79. The match was decided at the last second, when Mikael Jantunen put the ball in the basket Lauri Markkanen and Sasu Salini of inputs.

– It’s a good feeling when you’re in the right place at the right time. The right man took that throw and now it happened to fall on me. But that one basket didn’t decide this match, Jantunen said after the match.

However, was the head coach Lassi I brought the solution from the drawings?

– Well, let’s agree that it was. It was an excellent pass from Lauri under the basket and it was easy to put the ball in, Jantunen described.

Head coach Tuovi told that Lithuania is a tough scalp for Finland.

– I said at the end that you should play for each other and that’s what Lauri decided and gave Mike the honor this time, Tuovi expressed.

The Finnish men’s national team has faced Lithuania 22 times in history. Finland has won five of these matches and lost 17. Last year, Lithuania defeated Finland in practice matches with scores of 87–52 and 76–61.

Finland played a particularly strong second quarter in the match and led by ten points at its best. At the end, Lithuania, ranked eighth in the International Basketball Federation’s ranking, crept close and passed, but Finland was able to keep control in the necessary way on its own. Finland is 24th in the ranking.

Finland’s and the best scorer of the entire match was as expected Lauri Markkanen With 24 points and seven rebounds. The second NBA player of the match, Lithuania Jonas Valanciunas, scored 10 points in the match. Lithuania’s biggest NBA star Domantas Sabonis is sidelined this summer due to injury.

After the match, Markkanen praised the encouragement given by the home crowd. However, Markkanen was not yet satisfied with his own game, as he has only been training with the team for a short time.

– There is still some work to be done with the rhythm, because everything seemed to happen quite quickly on the field. However, it tells about our team, how we manage to win even though there is room for improvement.

The hype around Susijeng materialized today in the form of a win and a record audience. According to the Basketball Association, a total of 13,054 people had gathered at the Tampere arena and the event was sold out. The previous record of 12,327 viewers is from 2017.

Longtime Susijengi fans Wind and Kati have seen the development of basketball fan culture up close.

– I just asked Kati, Do you remember those times at the Helsinki ice rink, when the stands almost gaped with emptiness. About 15 years ago, the gang didn’t go to matches to this extent and now we walk in such a mass, Tuuli described his mood before the match.

A long shared history and love for basketball has made the duo come to the place time and time again.

Finland will play in a very tough group with Australia, Japan and Germany in the World Cup starting on August 25.

– Every opposition is tough and it won’t be easy, but with Susijeng everything is possible, Kati predicts with confidence.

– The group is tough, but if there is a gang, then this one will make a surprising result, Tuuli snapped.

At the weekend, Tampere will host the traditional and biggest recreational basketball tournament in Finland, Delfin basket, which has also brought a lot of basketball juniors. Among other things, Lauri Markkanen’s donks were expected from the evening’s match.

Susijeng’s star player Lauri Markkanen’s father Pekka Markkanen considers the growth of fan culture as an important matter for the entire sport.

– This is absolutely insane. A training ground match and a full house in Tampere – can’t wait any longer. I would love to see the same on Wednesday in the Estonian match in Espoo, Markkanen said before the match.