The Bosnia and Herzegovina national basketball team defeated the Greek team 80:77 in the fourth round of Group C of the European Championship in Limassol today.
The Bosnia and Herzegovina basketball team achieved its second victory, against the strongest opponent in the group, who suffered their first defeat in the tournament.
The Greeks opened the match better and had a double-digit lead after just five minutes, but BiH made an incredible 18:0 run in the second quarter eight minutes into the game and created a turnaround.
The Greek team, who were without their best player Giannis Antetokounmpo, were scoring points easily at the beginning, while the BiH team was missing shots from distance. This resulted in the Greek team taking a double-digit lead after just five minutes. The balance of power remained the same until the end of the quarter, and at the beginning of the second, the Greeks took a 13-point lead.
Then came eight dream minutes for the BiH team. The Greeks were completely stopped shooting, while Roberson and Atić opened the BiH series. After Nurkić’s basket with a foul and points from the free throw line and another three-pointer by Roberson, BiH came within just one point of the deficit. In the next attack, the Greeks lost the ball, and on the other hand, Nurkić scored for BiH’s first lead in the 16th minute.
Then followed a mini-series by Atić for a big five-point lead. The Greeks could not consolidate until the end, and in the last seconds, Kemanjaš also scored for the biggest lead of six points.
Roberson opened the third quarter with a three-pointer and increased it to eight points. Points from Atić, Vrabac and Roberson plus 12 followed, and at those moments BiH had a series of 32:7.
This was followed by a decline in the offensive game, which resulted in several misses. However, thanks to good defense, BiH managed to maintain a high lead until the final whistle, when the Greeks took advantage of another decline in BiH’s game and the rashness of player Adis Bećiragić. With an eight-point series, they managed to reduce the deficit to only five points. Nurkić broke the Greek series, and Kalaitzakis’ miss marked the end of the Greek team’s hopes of a turnaround. In the final whistle, BiH missed several free throws, so the Greeks went to three points, but that was the maximum they could get.
The most efficient players in the BiH selection with 18 points were Roberson and Nurkić, who also had 10 rebounds, while Atić scored 15 points with eight rebounds,
The best players in the Greek selection were Sloukas with 15, Dorsey with 14 and Papanikolaou with 11 points.
In the other matches of Group C, Cyprus – Georgia (17.15) and Spain – Italy (20.30).
BiH ends the group stage on Thursday with a match against Georgia that will be decisive for their place in the round of 16. Regardless of the triumph against Greece, BiH will need a win in the final round to qualify for the second round, for the first time since 1993, Federalna writes.
