Maaan, what a game. It was close until the end but we managed to win. And in the end that's exactly what we needed.
Birgersson and Tjädermo were two monsters today. Birgersson's 27 rebounds are huge. Thanks to these two the bigs of Japan were almost non-factors.
Tuikkala was his usual self. He hurt Japan (20 pts and 10 rebs) and he hurt us (his opponent scored 26 pts). Every game with him is like balancing on a razor knife.
Behind these three, Säfen may fell behind. But it was thanks to him, that we won. 1:22 before the end and with a tie at 99:99, Säfen scored 2 pts. 101:99 for us. Japans Tsutsumi went for a dunk and was blocked bei Säfen (1:12 to play). After a shooting foul Japan scored both free throws and the score was 101:101. With the next play, Säfen played a pass to Birgersson and dunked it in. 103:101. 9 seconds to play. But just before Japan could have a last chance for a buzzerbeater, Säfen interfered and stole the ball and sealed our victory. He was the defense anker at the outside and our bigs in the paint.
Thanks to this win, we have still a very good chance for a higher position.
Next week we play @ Columbia.