Procedural defeat by Montenegro and 15th place for the National Team

With a defeat, she completed her duties at Worldwide the National.

THE Hellas fight with… ten against Montenegroin an indifferent match, ultimately losing 73-69, finishing 15th in the tournament, with a 2-3 record.

The “blue and white” was behind in the score throughout the match, while also finding itself at -14 (46-60). However, with a counterattack in the last minutes, it was reduced to 4 and showed that it was capable of winning (58-62), but in the end the Vucevic cleaned up for the typical guests, who got their first win in World Cup against a European team!

On the downside of an otherwise unremarkable match was his injury Manou Hatzidakiswho turned his leg badly at the beginning of the fourth quarter, and left with help, in the phase in which he committed his fifth foul and was about to leave the floor.

The leader of the match and pivotal in the last minutes was Nikola Vucevic, who scored 19 points and grabbed 7 rebounds, scoring three straight as Greece fell behind. On the Greek side, Papapetrou was again excellent with 16 points, while Lefteris Bohorides had 13 points and 6 rebounds, and Kostas Papanikolaou, who “woke up” in the finale, had the same number of points.

The match

The Montenegro came in stronger and took a 0-5 lead thanks to Vucevic and Ivanovic. The Bulls center scored again, going 3-7, followed by 5-11 after being unstoppable. Popovich scored on an error to make it 5-13, leading Itoudis to call a timeout after Hellas he shot just 2/10 from the field in that span. Greece continued to miss the target with the Montenegro to stay in front of the score (9-17), before Papapetrou scored a goal-foul for 12-17. The first period ended with a score of 14-19 thanks to a layup by Walkup.

The second period started with his three-pointer Bohorides for 17-19, with him a little later adding another one and writing 20-21, in the good period of Greece. Nevertheless, with Dublievich to dominate, typically the visitors escaped again (22-30), before the excellent Papapetrou reduced again with a goal-foul (25-30) and nailed it for 27-32. Nevertheless, the Montenegro got away with +9 again thanks to Radovic (27-36), with the very positive Bohorides reducing with a goal foul to 30-36 at halftime.

In the second part, the Montenegro it went back to +9 with three shots by Popovich (32-41), while Simonovich posted the first double-digit difference of the game (32-43). One shot of him Ivanovich sent the match to +12 (34-46) for the first time. Papapetrou and Lountzis managed to reduce to 38-46, while the former scored again for 40-46. The third period ended with a score of 42-50 thanks to a layup by him Radoncic.

Very quickly in the last quarter, Montenegro with 5 points in a row by Radoncic escaped with +13 (42-55), with Papapetrou again providing a solution with a goal-foul, although he missed the shot (44-55). The Montenegrins they continued strongly and with Mihailovic and Drobniak they went up to +14 (46-60). Nevertheless, Greece with Walkup and Papanikolaou reduced to 10 (50-60), for his three-pointer to come Papagianni who wrote in 53-60. THE Walkup with his own three-pointer he reduced it even more, to 58-62. A crucial missed rebound gave to Vucevic the right to score for 58-64, while he made two consecutive difficult baskets for 58-68. THE Papanikolaou he made two consecutive 3-pointers for 64-68, but they fell short and Greece was defeated.

The quarters: 14-19, 30-36, 42-50, 69-73

Detailed match statistics here

Watch the video of the match here