21.08.2011

Finland Stay On Track To Win AQR

Finland moved back into first place in the Additional Qualifying Round for the EuroBasket with an 87-65 demolition of Hungary on Sunday.

Hanno Möttölä and Petteri Koponen each scored 13 points to lead the Finns, who had their noses in front going into the fourth quarter and then blew the Hungarians out by outscoring them 25-10.

Finland also got a terrific game from Sasu Salin, who had a game-high 12 rebounds.

Hungary had nothing but pride to play for after losing their first three games to fall out of contention for a spot in the EuroBasket.

They were eliminated in midweek when suffering a home defeat to Portugal, a result that put the Portuguese and Finland into the Final Round in Lithuania.

On Sunday, Obie Trotter had 14 points for Hungary.

Both Finland and Portugal would like to go into the EuroBasket as the side to finish first in the AQR.

The last game in the AQR will be this week when Finland, who have won all three of their games, travel to Portugal and a victory for the Finns would secure first place.

 

21.08.2011

Quotes Finland vs. Hungary

Adam Hanga, player (Hungary):

"We didn't have any pressure coming in and we were ready to play a good game and have fun. I think we started the game alright and continued to play well, but Finland's rebounding and three point shooting were the keys to win this game. It's hard for us. We were supposed to qualify to EuroBasket. We have a good team and good players, and I'm not sure why this happened. Perhaps we hadn't played together enough before these qualifications. We have to practice hard and hopefully we will give it another shot for EuroBasket 2013."

Lajos Meszaros, head coach (Hungary):

"I think we played well for three quarters, but then something happened in the fourth. We made a lot of mistakes, and the same thing has happened to us in the three previous games as well. It was not easy for us to come to this game after being eliminated from qualification, but we wanted to come in and play hard."

Petteri Koponen, player (Finland):

"I felt good tonight going in. I felt like I have still a lot to improve, but both personally and team-wise I feel like we're going to the right direction. Our offense was a lot better than in our last game, but especially in the first half we fell asleep a couple of times in the defensive end. We were able to minimize our mistakes in second half. Our rotation is a little bit bigger than Hungary's and we were able to wear them out with our tough defense and make some big shots. Eventually, a tough game became an easy win."

Henrik Dettmann, head coach (Finland):

"The ey to this victory was the same as all the other games we've played this summer - our defensive game. When two equally strong teams face each other, usually the team that plays better defense, wins - that's the core of our program. Looking at our game history from the last five or six years, we have very rarely lost games where we have been early favorites. We all are very glad for Hanno Möttölä. It's not easy, after only a couple of games to enter a game like this. Thankfully Hanno was able to make some shots early on. He has done a lot of work and it's good to see he's back in shape."