By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
While we are waiting for the second round of the FIBA World Cup to start on Friday, we are following the classification round from 17th to 32nd place in the tournament. In the newly formed O group, Finland got the job done against Cape Verde 100-77.
Most of the job was done in the first quarter when Finland scored 28 points for a 12-point advantage. By Halftime Filand had a comfortable 54-39 lead that got them thru the second half without any trouble.
Finlads superstar Lauri Larkkanen did all the heavy lifting by scoring 34 points while shooting 12/19 from the field. He also grabbed nine rebounds. Miro Little was the only other player in Finland with double digits in scoring, he had 10 points.
On the other side, Ivan Almeida led the way with 17 points, Anderson Correia added 15, and Edy Tavares had 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Several hours later, Japan won in a spectacular fashion against Venezuela in the same group 86-77.
Trailing for over 37 minutes, Japan made an incredible push in the last five minutes, scoring almost at will as Venezuelan players stood by and watched the game slip from their hands. Japan scored 33 points in the last quarter to ink their second win in the World Cup which keeps the Olympic Games’ dream alive.
Makoto Hiejima led the way with 23 points, Yuta Watanabe scored 21, and Yuki Kawamura added 19. For Venezuela, Garly Sojo scored 20 points.
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PHOTO CREDIT: 2023 FIBA World Cup