Greece makes last 8, Spain tops group
MADRID: Holder Greece made sure of a place in the European Championship quarterfinals with a comfortable 85-67 win against Portugal on Tuesday.
Power forward Dimosthenis Ntikoudis was top scorer for the Greeks with 17 points and nine rebounds but his side was never really troubled by the tournament upstarts who achieved its best European championship finish.
Portugal goes home with Israel. On its only previous appearance in 1951 it went out in the first stage.
"I want to congratulate Portugal, they are the surprise of European basketball," Greece coach Panagiotis Yannakis said.
"My team expected a tough game, showed good concentration and good percentage on shots. We are getting better day by day."
Greece needed to win its final game, after an inconsistent start, and finished third in Group E to progress with hosts and world champion Spain, Russia and Croatia.
Spain secured first place with a laboured 99-73 victory against Israel in the late game.
Zvi Sherf's side failed to follow the script as it silenced a packed arena by taking a 29-19 first quarter lead and then opened a 13-point advantage at the start of the second.
But after the initial scare Spain turned to big-hitters Pau Gasol and Jose Manuel Calderon, who made 20 and 15 points respectively before the midway point, to close the deficit to just one at 48-47.
"We weren't surprised but maybe we weren't completely ready. It was very difficult to contain them at first. We reacted well though. In the second half we raised our intensity, but it was not easy to beat them," Spain's Jorge Garbajosa said.
Earlier, Russia, who had already qualified, bounced back from a defeat by Spain with an 83-70 victory against Croatia, who finished second.
"I want to congratulate my players. They could have been unmotivated and taken it easy because it was of little significance as there are no easy games in the quarters," Russia coach David Blatt said.
Agencies
(China Daily 09/13/2007 page24)
