Finland shook up the Group A race as they edged out Israel in dramatic fashion to earn their first win EuroBasket qualifying.

Israel came into the game against Finland, who were 0-2, at 2-0 and needing to keep pace with Montenegro who saw off Italy earlier on Wednesday.

And it was looking good as they led 83-80 with 21 seconds left after Yuval Naimy made a pair of free throws.

But at the other end Yatum Halperin fouled Petri Virtanen, who made both his free throws to close the gap to one with 14 ticks left.

Israel had the chance to pad their lead, but captain Tal Burstein was guilty of a critical turnover, putting the ball back in Finnish hands.

Yaniv Green was forced to foul Gerald Lee, but he made both his free throws to put Finland on top.
Burstein launched a jump-shot on the buzzer, but it came back to hand Israel their first defeat.

The Finland victory was all the more remarkable given that coach Henrik Dettman was earlier forced to add Vesa Makalainen and teenager Sasu Salin to his squad after injury sidelined key veteran Hanno Mottola.

The moved paid off as rising star Salin collected 11 points in less than 10 minutes on his senior debut, shooting a deadly three-of-three from three-point range.

Shawn Huff and Virtanen led Finland with 13 points each, while Tuomas Iisalo had 12 and Lee collected 10.

Halperin led Israel with 18 points, while Omri Casspi added 17. Lior Eliyahu and Guy Pnini had 12 each, while Raviv Limonad chipped in 10.