MOSCOW, September 7 (R-Sport) – Russia men’s basketball team lost its third consecutive match at the European championships in Slovenia, suffering a heavy 81-62 defeat to Sweden Saturday.
Russia, which won bronze at last year's Olympics, must rely on several upset results in other teams' games if it is not to fail to qualify from the opening group stage for the first time.
Sweden is on a 1-2 record and must beat Turkey and Italy to have a strong chance of qualifying.
Sweden's NBA duo of Charlotte Bobcats shooting guard Jeffery Taylor and Detroit Pistons forward Jonas Jerebko made the key contribution to their team’s victory, scoring 47 points and making 19 rebounds.
Russia slowly rolled into the game, failing to score the easiest shots and trailing 13-4 after six minutes, but managed to snatch the lead early in the second quarter, mostly thanks to Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Alexei Shved, who scored six points.
However, the Scandinavian team led by Taylor held on and finished the first half 34-29 up.
Sweden’s 10-2 run in the third quarter was the decisive moment of the match, going nine points ahead.
Three pointers, Russia’s most dangerous weapon in the previous games fired blanks this time, as only three out of 17 attempts found the target.
Russia will now play Finland on Sunday and Turkey on Monday.
