MOSCOW REGION/ZENICA/LIMOGES (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers) - The battle for third place in Group K of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers will come down to the final window in February 2019 as both Russia and Finland booked victories in their final games of the fifth window.

Dmitry Khvostov scored 17 points and Dmitrii Kulagin collected 15 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists as Russia rolled past already-qualified Czech Republic 81-61 to improve to 6-4 in the group with three straight wins.

"We're obviously happy for the win. It was actually a double win (winning both games in the window) which has never happened to us before in these windows," said Russia head coach Sergey Bazarevich.

Finland trailed by 21 points but managed to come back and beat Bosnia and Herzegovina on the road 81-77 thanks to Sasu Salin's three-pointer with 40 seconds left. He finished with 19 points and Petteri Koponen tallied 18 points as Finland improved to a 5-5 record in the group.

"First of all, congratulations to the Bosnian team. Very seldom do you play games like this. I think this was my 389th national team game as a head coach and I don't think I ever coached a game like this before," said Finland head coach Henrik Dettmann. "We all know we are very lucky to come back and win the game. At the same time, you have to give credit to the players. They fought back, they never gave up. We said at halftime we can't leave this gym without knowing that we gave it all. And we did that in the second half."

Bulgaria are still alive in the fight for the World Cup despite falling to 4-6 after a 77-53 blowout loss to France but they have their work cut out in the battle with Russia and Finland. Hristo Zahariev picked up 13 points for Bulgaria.

Russia are looking to return to the World Cup after missing out on Spain 2014 which is where Finland made their maiden journey on the world stage. Bulgaria have only ever played in the competition once, way back in 1959.

The Group K decision will come down to the final window in February 2019. Finland will play at home against already-qualified France on February 21 with Russia travelling to Bulgaria the same day. Russia will then welcome Finland on February 24 in the team's final game - which will likely decide which country advances to China 2019.

Russia will go into the Finland game knowing they have a two-point advantage in the head-to-head tiebreaker after a 77-75 win in Espoo on November 30.  Bulgaria's final game sees them heading to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

FIBA