Spain edged Finland 135-131 in the MT20WC European subregional qualifier for Group C on Thursday. The result keeps Spain top of the table with an unblemished record from four matches. Finland remain in second place after their first defeat of the campaign.
To be fair, Spain had already built a commanding position before this fixture. Four wins from four games gives them eight points, two ahead of their opponents. They have not dropped a point in this qualifying group so far, and the margin of victory here was barely enough to make it a contest.
Finland's situation is different. Three games played, two victories, one loss, five points — they are still in the hunt but the gap to the leaders is growing. By then they had lost heavily to Germany, 89-137, which showed the ceiling they face in this group. Their only other defeat came against Sweden, 116-117, so narrow defeats and heavy losses are both familiar to them.
Their opponents have a peculiar habit of producing wildly different scorelines in the same fixture. Against Croatia in December they won 93-90, then 290-75, 58-55, 224-42 and 77-76 in five matches. Things came to a head once again here, with Spain pulling away in the final quarter after Finland held their ground for most of the game.
And here's the thing about this group — Spain need the points badly even though they already have eight. Finland are weighing up a move to close the gap, but three points behind with one more game played makes the arithmetic unkind. The result means Spain extend their unbeaten run to four matches while Finland's hopes of topping the group take another hit.