Sweden's men's national team won after great drama - with three teams at the same point - last winter the team's first group game in qualifying for next year's basketball championship.

When the next, crucial, qualifying game began tonight, things went heavier.

Borg penalized

Already halfway into the first period, Croatia, who missed last year's World Cup, pulled away and went to break lead by 18–6. Tobias Borg scored the first four Swedish points from the penalty line, but it took almost nine minutes before Chris Czerapowicz got in the team's first game points in the match.

So much closer than the distance Sweden had in the first break they never came. At most, the team was down by 22 points, and in the end it was Croatian home victory with 75–56. Most productive in Sweden were Tobias Borg (11 points), William Magarity (10) and Chris Czerapowicz (9).

Meets Turkey on Monday

In the second match of the group, the Netherlands won away against Turkey, 72-65. Sweden will face Turkey in the Globe on Monday, when a new audience record is expected for the Swedish national team basketball.

The four teams in the group will meet both at home and away and the qualification will only end in a year. The top three get to play the European Championships.