Over 12,400 were in attendance in Helsinki to see both sides' opening match in Group L, and the away side were under the greater pressure to get a win, as they carried three wins and three losses over from the previous round, compared to Finland's four victories and two losses.
And Sweden dealt with the pressure when it mattered most, sinking a three-pointer at the end of the first quarter to go 23-20 ahead. The box score showed the second and third quarters finished level, but that didn't tell the full story, as Larsson woke up from a pointless first 10 minutes to keep the Swedes alive with nine straight points in the second, before the away side battled back from a five-point deficit to lead by seven in the third.
Blagult kept the Wolfpack at arms length in the fourth to take the 86-81 win, in which Larsson top scored with 31 points. His nearest challenger, Olivier Nkamhoua, scored 19 for Finland.
The bigger story, arguably, was that of Markkanen, who scored just four points in the first half before ending the game on 11. Sweden had done their homework on the Utah man, with Denzel Andersson, Viktor Gaddefors and Bobi Klintman responsible for keeping him quiet.
"Denzel, Viktor and Bobi defended him really strongly. He wasn't able to do much up front, and that's entirely their fault," said Larsson, who was clear about the team's aim of beating the Finns: "Our goal was to win at least one of the matches against Finland. This puts us in a great position going forward."
The win puts the two sides level on 11 points, but crucially Sweden have gone above Finland into the third and final qualifying place in the six-team group, behind France and Hungary, but with a long way still to go in the group.
Sweden welcome group leaders France to Stockholm on 30th August, the same day Finland make the short trip to Tallinn to face Estonia.
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