Greece advances into quarterfinals with confident play

Antonis Fotsis (left) played well for Greece (Photo credit: FIBA)Photo Gallery>>(BEIJING, July 17) -- Hosts Greece sent their fans into jubilation by smashing world 18th ranked Brazil 89-69 in the group A decider on July 16 in the 2008 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men in Athens.

The win gave Greece the group A top slot.

Greece ranks 6th in the world, having taken the silver in the 2006 FIBA world championship and placing 4th in last year's EuroBasket. Most players on the current roster played in both previous events. The team has been together for a long time, and their chemistry shows it.

In Wednesday's match they demonstrated their dominance by winning every quarter and holding Brazil to just 69 points. They had 18 assists in the whole match, shooting 54.8% on the two-pointers and 39.1% for the threes. Power forward Antonis Fotsis gave a strong performance, scoring 18 points and grabbing 10 rebounds -- the only double-double of the night. Former NBA player Vassilis Spanoulis scored 14 points while dishing out four assists. All 12 Greek players stepped onto the court and 11 of them scored.

In contrast, Brazil relied too much on individual efforts, with only six out of their 10 played players scoring in the match and barely three assists between the bunch. 2007 NBA Draft 28th overall pick Tiago Splitter did manage to split open the Greek defense, scoring 20 points and grabbing 7 rebounds. However, he missed five of his 11 free throws. In fact, the Brazilians shot 44 free throws that night, but only sunk 30 of them.

In the quarterfinals on Friday Greece will face 13th ranked New Zealand while Brazil will play against powerhouse Germany.