All-time Finnish record crowd enjoy buzzer-beating game-winner for Susijengi

TAMPERE (Finland) - Finland defeated Lithuania 81-79 on a putback basket at the final buzzer in front of an all-time Finnish basketball record crowd.

On the morning before the game, Basketball Finland announced that the tickets at Nokia Arena, where the game was situated, on August 4 were all sold out.

They later announced the official number of spectators at 13,504, setting an all-time attendance record in Finnish basketball.

The previous record for spectators was 12,327 at Hartwell Arena in Helsinki when Finland played Greece at FIBA EuroBasket 2017.

The record-breaking crowd was also fortunate to witness a competitive game between the Susijengi and Lithuania. The score was knotted at 79 with 6.4 seconds left on the clock, setting up a heroic opportunity for Lauri Markkanen to take the potential game-winning shot.

Markkanen missed his attempt, but Mikael Jantunen did not after collecting the offensive rebound and putting in the putback shot which fell through the basket right at the buzzer.

Markkanen had a spectacular game in his return to suiting up for the national team and had 24 points and 7 rebounds.

Lithuania had four players in double-digit scoring in Rokas Jokubaitis (13 points, 7 assists), Margiris Normantas (12 points), Ignas Brazdeikis (10 points), and Jonas Valanciunas (10 points).

This victory was the first of Finland's tuneup game schedule. They handed Lithuania their first loss after coming off five straight wins.

FIBA