Greece crashes out of the FIBA World Cup
National team loses by 25 to the Lithuanians
Greece has missed out on the quarterfinals of the FIBA World Cup as it crumbled against Lithuania in the second half on Friday to go down 92-67.
The Greek national team wasted an eight-point advantage (40-32) late in the first half, that ended 43-39, to suffer a bad loss in the be-all and end-all match in the second phase of the tournament.
Lithuania had a strong start (9-2) to the match, but Greece responded with a series of triples that gave it a five-point advantage (18-13). Its improved defense against a frustrated Lithuania saw the Greeks stay head throughout the rest of the first half, led by Thomas Walkup and Giannoulis Larentzakis.
Suddenly the Greek team slowed down in the third period with the quality players of Lithuania taking full control of the game. They denied the Greek offense time and again and made distance shots with ease as the defensive quality of the Greeks nosedived.
In the final quarter Greece gave up trying and the Lithuanians ran riot in a very disappointing finale for the team coached by Dimitris Itoudis, who always had limited options at his disposal.
Walkup ended the match with 21 points and Larentzakis had 17.
Greece now has one more game left to play, on Sunday against Montenegro, but that will only bear on the final position of the team in the tournament, between the ninth and the 16th position.
