A tight victory for Greece over Serbia
Dimosthenis Dikoudis fired holders Greece to a nail-biting 68-67 extra-time victory over Serbia at the European Championship late on Tuesday. Greece looked to have opened up a winning margin with two seconds left in normal time when Serbia’s Milan Gurovic sank a spectacular three-pointer to level the scores at 56 apiece. Panathinaikos forward Dikoudis steered Greece home with a game-high 20 points, landing a crucial jump-shot from outside the arc with 40 seconds to go in extra time, leaving the Serbs with four points to make up. The victory put Greece into the second phase along with Russia from Group A after both registered 100 percent records. Russia thrashed Israel 90-56 earlier on Tuesday. Greece and Russia were scheduled to meet later last night for Group A’s top spot. Earlier yesterday, Israel edged out Serbia 87-83 to snatch third place in Group A and a berth in the next phase. The top three sides from the four sections enter a second phase of two groups of six. In Group B, world champions Spain made sure of their place in the last 12 with a 93-77 win over Latvia that was tougher than the scoreline suggests. Memphis Grizzlies forward Pau Gasol was again top scorer for Spain with 26 points and nine rebounds. (Reuters/Kathimerini)
