A friendly match held in Juveskile highlighted the challenges Nikola Vučević and his teammates will face in the 3rd round of EuroBasket…

The Finnish basketball team, one of the hosts for the upcoming EuroBasket and Montenegro’s group competition, triumphed over Belgium in a friendly match with a score of 105:62. However, the standout was Lauri Markkanen’s exceptional performance.

The Finnish NBA star scored an impressive 48 points for his team—nearly matching the total points of the entire Belgian squad, which will also vie for the championship in Europe starting on August 27th.

The center for Utah Jazz shot 17 of 24 from the field, collected nine rebounds, and recorded three steals along with a block in just 25 minutes of play.

Notably, no player in the history of the Finnish national team has ever scored more points in a single game; Markkanen surpassed his previous record of 43 points set against Croatia during the 2022 European Championship.

In total, only seven Finnish players have ever exceeded 40 points in a match, with Markkanen holding the top three highest-scoring games.

Alongside him, the “wolves” were also supported by Olivier Nkamhua with 11 points, Miro Little contributing eight assists, and captain Sasu Salin adding eight points.

Montenegro and Finland will clash on August 30th in Tampere, with both teams having additional friendly matches lined up—our national team will take on Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo tomorrow (Sunday, at 18:00).

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