Home FIBA EuroBasket 2011 Finland and Portugal book final two slots

Finland and Portugal book final two slots

Finland and Portugal have qualified for Eurobasket 2011 via the Additional Qualifying Rounds. Hungary are the sole team to miss out.

Finland finished top of the AQT with a perfect 4-0 record, and will travel to Alytus where Greece, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina and F.Y.R of Macedonia await them in Group C.

Portugal finished second with a 2-2 record, and will travel to Panevezys where they will face Spain, Turkey, Lithuania, Great Britain and Poland in Group A. Hungary finished third where they lost all four games.

In the game that decided the final standings, Finland defeated Portugal 86-78 in Coimbra to clinch the top spot.

In a game where Portugal had to win by 12 points or more, due to the Finns 12 point win in the previous encounter, the hosts paced to a 14 point lead in the third quarter thanks to buckets from Elvis Evora and Miguel Miranda, but the visitors replied back with an 11-0 run to close the gap to three (61-58).

Portugal could not extend their lead to double-digits and Finland then saw an opening to take the tie completely away from the hosts.

A Kimmo Muurinen inspired 6-0 spurt gave the Finns the lead 78-76 late in the fourth and they finished on a 10-2 run to close out the game.

Petteri Koponen led all scorers with 26 points for the visitors. Joao Santos hit 19 for Portugal.

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