Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic scored 23 points to lead Montenegro to a much-needed 87-81 victory over Sweden at the EuroBasket tournament. Also on Monday, Turkey extended its record to four group phase wins with a comfortable victory over Estonia.
Vucevic also grabbed 15 rebounds and delivered four assists in Tampere, Finland, as Montenegro overcame a blip in the third quarter to post its first win at the continental tournament, keeping its hopes of reaching the round of 16 alive.
Pelle Larsson led the Swedes with 28 points.
Montenegro had a 40-34 half-time lead but Sweden was the better team returning from the locker room and out-scored their rivals in the third quarter 31-24 to take the lead. A strong effort by Kyle Allman, who scored 10 points in less than two minutes to give his team a 80-77 lead with 1:50 left, helped Montenegro recover and win the contest in Group B.
The group phase of 24 teams is being played in four different countries. The top four teams from each group will advance to the knockout phase in Riga, Latvia, from Sept. 6-14.
Montenegro can qualify with another victory against Britain, arguably the weakest team in the group.
Turkey extends perfect start
Already qualified from Group A, Turkey made light work of Estonia in a 84-64 victory in Riga. Turkey dominated from the start and built a 12-point lead after 10 minutes.
Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun was again decisive for Turkey with 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
It was the first time since 2009 that Turkey managed to secure four wins in a single EuroBasket tournament. Estonia dropped to 1-3 ahead of its final group game against Portugal on Wednesday. Turkey will face Serbia in a game that determines the group winner.
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