RIGA (Reuters) - Lauri Markkanen scored 17 points and blocked four shots to lead Finland to a 93-79 win over Georgia on Wednesday that sees the Nordic nation through to the semi-finals of Eurobasket for the first time.
The Finns will face Germany in Friday's semi-final after the Germans came from behind to defeat Slovenia 99-91 on the back of a blistering fourth-quarter performance,with old foes Turkey and Greece facing off in the other game in the final four.
More known for their exploits in ice hockey, the Finns shocked the basketball world by defeating favourites Serbia in the last 16, and though they led for most of the game, they had to survive a spirited third-quarter fight-back by the Georgians.
Markkanen made a number of key plays throughout the game and got plenty of help from his teammates. Top scorer Mikael Jantunen netted 19 points and hit three of his seven three-pointers, with the bench chipping in with a whopping 44 points.
"It was a pretty typical performance for us - we take the lead, then it gets exciting and we end up winning at the end," Markkanen said with typical understatement.
"Our play was a bit up and down at the beginning of the tournament, (but) now we have gotten better in every match and the most important thing is that we keep going like that," Jantunen added.
(Reporting by Philip O'Connor; Editing by Toby Davis)
