21.08.2012

Sweden Rally To Top Azerbaijan

Sweden dug themselves into an early hole but recovered to record their first win of the EuroBasket qualifying round with victory over Azerbaijan.

Kenny Grant came off the bench to play a key role for Sweden

The visitors from the East were outstanding in the first quarter, and when Jaycee Carroll hit a jump-shot to follow Rasim Bashak's three-pointer they were up 23-8 with 75 seconds left in the period.

Fuad Niftaliyev's free throws had them up 25-13 but Sweden came back with nine straight points to make it 25-22 on Christian Maraker's put-back.

Azerbaijan desperately clung on to a narrow lead and were still up 42-41 at the end of the second quarter.

But Joakim Kjellbom's dunk to open the third quarter heralded the changing dynamics of the game as Sweden began to take control.

Kenny Grant's three gave them a 54-47 lead and Dino Pita's three started an 8-1 run that made it 66-58 late in the third.

Azerbaijan rallied once again and three straight free throws from Carroll made it a one-point game, 66-65, early in the fourth quarter.

They were still within touching distance when Bashak's three made it 81-77 with 3:10 to go, but Sweden then took control of the game as they finished on a 15-2 run.

Jonas Jerebko's jump-shot got it started before Mikael Lindqvist nailed a three, and Azerbaijan had no response.

Maraker led Sweden with 19 points while Jerebko had 18, Grant 14 and Kjellbom 11. Grant added 10 rebounds.

Carroll led Azerbaijan with 27 points while Bashak had 24.

21.08.2012

Quotes Sweden vs. Azerbaijan

Jaycee Carroll, Azerbaijan:
"We started really well and Rashim Basak made some shots for us, just as we expect from him. Orhan Haciyeva had an unbelievable game with 17 rebounds, but Sweden fought back and did it well. They closed out our shooters and when we played a zone defense they managed to find a way to pass through it. But we played pretty well and I don't think it was really a 17-point game. But the points ran away a little towards the end of the game."

Eishan Yusubov, Azerbaijan assistant-coach:
"It was a game of runs. We made a run the first five minutes and Sweden made a run the last five minutes. Unfortunately, their run was more important than ours. Our zone defense was effective for us for a while, but then they managed to make plays from the high that hurt us badly. I think their point guard Kenny Grant was incredibly important for Sweden, to come from the bench and score 14 points and have ten assists with just one turnover - this is very good. But we played pretty well, unfortunately the score got away a bit at the end, it didn't feel like we deserved to lose by 17 points."

Jonas Jerebko, Sweden:
"We didn't start out well at all. We played as a team in the second half and then things started to happen for us and we could finally get some shots to go in. I want the responsibility that is given to me on the Swedish team, I just wish I would have played a little bit better in the first half and made some shots. But when we started playing well in the second half I got going too. Winning by 17 points feels good, it can turn out to be important. In international competition it gets difficult when you start out slow. But we got a lot of energy from our home crowd who were great. Now it's onward to Germany and hopefully we can play well the whole game then."

Brad Dean, Sweden head-coach:
"We played stupid basketball from the beginning and I wasn't happy with us at all. But we managed to get back in the game, a lot thanks to the home crowd who were great and just cheered us on. When we started passing the ball and had some movement we got it going. We got back in the game but it was difficult to put Azerbaijan away. They made some really tough shots, but we managed to wear them down and win the game. Jaycee Carroll scored 27 points for Azerbaijan but I still think all of our guys did a good job defensively on him. He's a top player in Europe and he showed it tonight. But we got the win, so it feels good."