Frederico Martins was Team Portugal’s leading scorer for the second time in three games, but it wasn’t enough to prevent them from dropping their game Sunday (July 28), at the FIBA U-18 European “B” men’s basketball championships in Romania.
Team Portugal led a three point lead evaporate and they fell to Sweden 77-74 in a battle of two unbeaten squads in Group “D”. Sweden moves to 3-0 in pool play while Portugal falls to 2-1.
Martins, who will join the WolfPack in September to begin his U SPORTS/Canada West career played 25:34 notching a team high 18 points. He shot 6 for 14 from field goal range which was 42.9 per cent. He had four steals and one offensive rebound.
Sweden led 25-20 after the first quarter. Portugal outscored the Swedes 15-14 in the second quarter and trailed by four (39-35) at the half. Portugal won the third quarter offensively 22-12 and led 57-41 before the Swedes outgunned the Portuguese 26-17 in the final period to go onto victory.
It is a day off Monday (July 29) at the championships. Portugal meets Austria (1-2) on Tuesday (July 30) while Sweden puts their unbeaten record on the line against Hungary.
