EUROBASKET 2011

Turning Point: With Finland having cut the deficit to six points heading into the final quarter, Erazem Lorbek stepped up for Slovenia with six quick-fire points to ease the nerves and give his team the cushion they needed.

Game Hero: Uros Slokar finished with 13 points, 8 rebounds and no turnovers.

Stats Don't Lie: Slovenia did a great job of keeping Finland off the offensive glass and gave up only 6 second chance points.

Slovenia ended their recent losing streak to punch their quarter-final ticket after seeing off Finland in a do-or-die Group F encounter.

While it was far from flawless and involved surviving a fourth quarter drought and late scare, Slovenia responded to the recent criticism and pressure by claiming a 67-60 success.

As for Finland, their remarkable journey ended in slightly disappointing fashion as they missed a golden opportunity to make it to the last eight.

They were always on the back foot from the early stages with Coach Henrik Dettmann calling time-out, his team 22-15 behind.

Once Slovenia began making perimeter shots, it became even more difficult as they built up a commanding 14-point advantage at 42-28 by the half-time break.

If the Finns were to have any chance of dragging themselves back into the game, they needed to be more aggressive defensively and put Slovenia under some pressure.

They did a better job during the third quarter, giving up only 12 points in ten minutes. That gave them hope of completing a memorable fight back having cut the gap to just six points at 54-48, thanks to some great play in the closing seconds by Tuukka Kotti.

The start of the last quarter was always going to be vital and it was Erazem Lorbek who was the key figure as he delivered with three successive baskets in a 6-2 run for Slovenia.

This took their lead back out to double digits and while they only managed a further seven points in the game, Finland were also misfiring and couldn't capitalise.

Slovenia now head to Kaunas where they will face defending champions Spain in the Quarter-Finals.