ImageIn a game of no interest for either team, Greece beat Israel 106-80 and advanced to the next group stage carrying a 2-0 record, while Israel goes home with 0-3.


It was an open and high-scoring game right from the begining with Greece maintaining a slim lead up until the final minutes of the first half before the Greeks pulled off fast buckets to go to the locker rooms up by 56-42. Not much changed in the second half besides Israel trying to come back, cutting the lead to 9 points. The Greeks answered quickly though and kept double-digits margins until the end of the game. Final score was 106-80.

ISRAEL 80-106 GREECE

Israel: Roth, Naimy 5, Mekel 4, Limonad 15, Pnini 4, Halperin 7, Burstein 8, Eliyahu 21, Mizrahi, Kozikaro 8, Green 8, Tamir
Greece: Kalambokis 12, Bourousis, Zisis 6, Spanoulis 18, Calathes 5, Fotsis 16, Printezis 8, Glyniadakis 5, Kaimakoglou 10, Koufos 4, Perperoglou 6, Schortsanitis 16

Game quotes:

Raviv Limonad: "It was a disappointing game for us. We didn't play what we wanted to play. We have to focus on the future and we have many things to consider."

Nikolaos Zizis: "We played good basketball, especially in the second half. We are satisfied with the result. We are in good spirits, but we know that in the next round things will be more difficult."

Zvi Sherf, Israel coach: "It was a game only for the protocol. I have to congratulate Greece, they play the best defense in the tournament. We are disappointed, it's a shock for me and my team. We have a lot of time to think about what happened in this tournament."

Jonas Kazlauskas, Greece coach: "I'm happy, this round was very successful for us. We won all our games and gained a psychological boost. We fight, start from tough defense and are efficient in offense. There are only several small things that we have to correct. This tournament shows that there are no weak teams anymore."