He was handed over to Lithuania and Greece said an early “goodbye”!

She gave her “battle” but she didn’t succeed Hellas!

The national team had strength for 27 minutes against the Lithuaniaas in the end they abandoned her and so she suffered a heavy defeat 92-67which means her mathematical exclusion from the continuation of the World Cup.

From 54-54 onwards, the Lithuanians threw a… party, ending the match with 15/24 three-pointers. Thus, the team of Kazis Maksvitis went to 4-0 and qualified for the quarterfinals, playing first in the group against the USA.

In contrast, the “official favorite” retreated to 2-2 and the match with the Montenegro (3/9, 11:40) it only concerns the ranking.

The leader of the Lithuanians was Rokas Yokubaitis with 19 points and at 18p. he stopped Ignas Brazdeikis.

From Greece, he stood out Thomas Walkup with 21 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, with Giannouli Larentzakis to add 17p.

The match

Greece started with Papagiannis, Thanasis, Papanikolaou, Walkap and Luntzis. A very nervous start from the National Team with bad and misplaced shots, while on the other hand Brazdeikis and Yokubaitis sent Lithuania to 9-2, in the first three minutes. Maksvitis’ team had the control and the difference (13-6) until the 6th minute. After that, Walkup started to … moon and by “scrambling” the opponents’ defense, together with Larentzakis, who came from the bench, the “official favorite” made a 12-0 run, for +5 (13-18 ), at 7′. Then, the naturalize of Greece retired for “breathers”, with the National team losing its offensive rhythm and thus the Lithuanians tied at 20-20 at the end of the first period.

With baskets in the open court by good defenses, Greece entered the second quarter with a 4-0 lead (20-24). The Lithuanians reacted and equalized temporarily (25-25), with the National team responding with good defenses and the “hot” Papapetrou from the bench with individual scores of 2-10, for +8 (27-35), at 16′. Then, the baton was taken again by the hungry Walkup, who maintained the difference (32-40) for the “official favorite”, until 18′. In the remaining time, the Lithuanians pressed with Valanciunas and reduced to 39-43, at the end of the first half.

With 2/2 three-pointers, the Lithuanians entered the second part, taking the lead (45-43). Greece temporarily went ahead (45-46) with Walkup, but mistakes and missed rebounds followed, with Lithuania going to +6 (54-48), at 25′. The answer of the national team came immediately with Walkap and Moraitis for the equalizer (54-54), in the 27th minute. However, there the players of Dimitris Itoudis seemed to run out of strength, having bad choices, with those Maksvitis finding rhythm outside of 6.75m. and close the third period at +6 (64-58).

The… tank of Greece was starting to “empty”, with Lithuania feeling very comfortable on the floor at the beginning of the fourth quarter and not only maintaining their lead, but going to +14 (74-60), at 33′ . From that point on, the Maksvitis players did whatever they wanted on the floor, consistently performing outside of 6.75m. and taking the victory with the final 92-67.

The quarters: 20-20, 39-43, 64-58, 92-67

See the match statistics here

Watch the film of the match here