Finland upsets Poland at home 81-79 in EuroBasket Qualifier

Finland took a victory away from Poland at home in the EuroBasket 2013 Qualifier, 81-79. The two teams took the game to the final seconds on the clock, but the visitors managed the shot clock to their advantage pulled off the upset.
Finland got up 13-4 early in the first quarter before Poland was able to convert early Finland fouls into points on the free throw line, hitting 11 in the first quarter alone. At the end of the first frame the two squads were knotted at 22.
Again Finland built a margin early, dropping in six unanswered points to start the second quarter. Poland got hot behind the arc, hitting four during the quarter and taking the lead 40-37 with 1:20 left in the half. Petteri Koponen dropped in two free throws and a three-pointer to get the Fins back on top by two, 42-40 at the end of the half.
Koponen picked up where he left off, nailing down a three to open the scoring in the second half and bump the margin to five 45-40. A jumper and four free throws later and the margin had increased to 11, 51-40. Robert Skibniewski’s three stopped the rally for Poland. Poland put the pressure on both inside with lay-ups and dunks, and outside with two more Skibniewski threes and at end of the quarter Poland had erased the 11-point deficit and tied the score at 60.
After trading baskets for the first five minutes of the final stanza, Huff hit a three-pointer to put Finland up by four, 70-66 with 4:51 to play. Dardan Berisha scored on a lay-up on Poland’s next possession and then he stole the ball from Koponen for another lay-up and a tie score at 70. Lee hit a jumper with 3:52 to play for Finland and then Michal Ignerski put Poland up by one with a three-pointer with 3:32 to play. Ignerski hit one of two free throws to give Poland a two-point margin, but Huff erased it with a three. Marcin Gortat split a pair of free throws for Poland to tie the score at 75 with 2:32 remaining. Koivisto’s three with 1:11 put Finland up by three, Berisha cut that to one with a jumper for Poland and Lee’s dunk with 28 seconds to play gave Finland a three-point led. Koszarek missed on a three with 11 seconds left, but Koszarek grabbed the offensive rebound and kicked it back to Koszarek. He was fouled and made both of his free throws to cut the gap to one-point. Koponen was fouled on the in bounds play putting him on the line for two shots. He made one of two, extending the margin to two. Berisha’s shot at the buzzer missed, giving the win to Finland, 81-79. Koponen’s 26 for Finland led all scorers, Shawn Huff added 15 in the win. Ignerski paced Poland with 22 points, while Berisha added 16.