“Saved” her National The Costas Papanikolaou!
The offensive “blackout” in the fourth period almost turned out to be fatal for Hellasbut the 2/2 free throws of “Pap” at 3 ” before the endgave her the victory (72-71) against Turkey!
So, our representative band went to 2-1 in the 2nd group of the World Cup qualifiers, with the neighbors on the other hand retreating to 1-2. The two of them will say it next Monday (28/2, 19:00) in Istanbul.
The first scorers of Ethniki were Papagiannis and Agravanis with 14 points each, with them Papanikolaou and Mourato to have from 10p. Good looks from him too Σλουκα with 8p. and 7 assists.
From the Turks, he stood out Machmoutoglou with 21 points.
The match
The National Team started with Papagiannis, Agravanis, Papanikolaou, Larentzaki and Moraitis. Good start for Greece, as running in the open field had the lead (7-4), with Mahmutoglou, however, reacting and Turkey escaping at +5 (7-12), in 5 ‘. From that point on, Manolopoulos’s players made many cheap mistakes, with the visitors on the other hand finding solutions from the periphery and thus closing the first period at +7 (13-20).
Gegik’s three-pointer sent Turkey to +10 (13-23) at the beginning of the second half. However, Greece immediately reacted through its defense and with Muratos and Printezis aggressively made an initial score of 9-1 to get closer to the basket (22-24), while then equalized (26-26), in 15 ‘. The visitors reacted for +4 (26-30), but Sloukas then caught fire and pushed Ethniki in a 9-0 series for +7 (37-30), with the end of the first half finding it at +8 (40-32).
With a great mood in the team defense and Agravanis “hot” offensively, Ethniki escaped at +15 (49-34), which it maintained (52-37), until 24 ‘. There, Greece lost its concentration on both sides of the floor, with Birsen and Mahmutoglou dropping the difference to single digits (54-48), in 26 ‘. Sloukas temporarily “unblocked” the National Team, but Larkin started to activate and so the Turks equalized (56-56), in 29 ‘. However, in the last minutes, Manolopoulos’s players tightened defensively and with Printezis closed the third period at +4 (60-56).
Starring Muratos, Ethniki made it 6-0 at the beginning of the fourth period, for +10 (66-56), in 32 ‘. But then it “stuck”, with Mahmutoglu’s three-pointers giving the momentum to the Turks, who made a series of 11-0 for the lead (66-67), in 37 ‘. Papagiannis broke the… pomegranate, with Larkin sending the guests to +3 (68-71), in 38 ‘. There, Manolopoulos’s players took out the defenses, initially reducing the point with Papagiannis, while with 2/2 shots by Papanikolaou, at 3 ” before the end, Ethniki made it 72-71, which was the final score , after Larkin missed a three-pointer on the exhale!
The ten minutes: 13-20, 40-32, 60-56, 72-71
See here match statistics
See here the film of the match
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I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
