A two-faced National, collapsed inexplicably in the last 12 minutes and lost me 78-69 from the Great Britain in Newcastle doing very bad start to the World Cup qualifiers.
The Greek team seemed to be going for a walk when 18 minutes before the end reached +15 (33-48). But from there on, everything went wrong, in defense and attack, with the hosts dominating and reaching victory.
THE Dimitris Agravanis with 19 and o Nikos Gikas with 14 points stood out from the National. Teddy Okereafor with 19 points and 4/4 three points led the British.
Next match for the National, on Sunday at Nick Galis Hall in Thessaloniki against Belarus (17:00) who earlier defeated Turkey 84-70 in the other match of the group.
The match
Gikas, Katsivelis, Giannopoulos, Agravanis and Kavvadas started the match for the National. The three-pointers from Gika and Agravani gave a fast +4 (4-8), but some defensive gaps allowed the hosts to go ahead with 13-10. With an 8-0 the Greek team regained the reins (13-18), but the British with Olaseni initially approached and with a basket by Okereafor at the end they finished the ten minutes in a draw, 23-23.
Losing its rhythm in the attack and remaining vulnerable defensively, Ethniki saw the hosts overtake 29-24. When the improvement came in the back, came the overtaking, 29-30, thanks to six unanswered points. The Greek internationals kept Great Britain in just four points in the last 8:12 of the second period (!) Resulting in closing the halftime at +5, 33-38.
Continuing from where it left off, Ethniki broke away with 15 (33-48) with two more three-pointers by Gika and remaining excellent in its defense. Mark Stuttel’s timeout woke up his players who, led by Nelson, quickly reduced the difference to seven, 43-50 and with a three-pointer by Okereafor reached a shooting distance of 48-51. Agravanis ‘goal-foul and Katsivelis’ three-pointer gave some breath to the Greek team, which, however, continued to be hurt by Okereafor’s three-pointer, 56-57.
The bad Greek attacks and the beauty of Okereafor gave the opportunity to Great Britain to go ahead, 61-57, eight minutes before the end. Savvas Kamberidis’s timeout did not correct things, with the hosts escaping 69-60 after a three-pointer by Nelson with 5:38 for the end. The annoying failure of Ethniki could not put a stop to the hosts who reached 73-60. With a three-pointer by Saloustros at 35 ” the difference was reduced to seven and another of his own basket brought the match to -6 with 25 ” for the end, but it was too late to avoid defeat.
Ten minutes: 23-23, 33-38, 56-57, 78-69
See here the statistics of the match.
Referees: Conte (Spain), Marche (Portugal), Aungrogers (Latvia).
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