Slovenia beat hosts Finland for second win at Eurobasket
Helsinki, 2 September - Slovenia beat hosts Finland in Helsinki on Saturday with 81:78 (22:22, 52:42, 65:62) in a thriller finish to earn their second win in as many matches in the preliminary group A of the EuroBasket. Slovenia's NBA star Goran Dragić was again the man of the match, scoring a game-high 29 points.
Ljubljana
The Slovenian men's national basketball team
Photo: Anže Malovrh/STA
Dragić was not impressed by the ferocioius Finnish crowd n the sold-out Hartwall Arena, scoring at will to give Slovenia a 10-point lead at the end of the first half.
The Finns woke up in the second half, making a 12:4 run to come close to Slovenia and make things interesting in the last minutes of the match.
The home team had the last possession to win the match but Anthony Randolph stole the ball and slammed it home on the other end of the court to seal the win for Slovenia.
Slovenia will continue their preliminary round matches on Sunday against Greece, then have a day off before rounding off the group stage against Iceland on Tuesday and France on Wednesday.