By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Giannis Antetokounmpo was back in action, George Papagiannis remains the only big absence from the Greek national team roster and playing at home, Greece got the 101-78 win over Poland in the second game of the first day of the “Acropolis tournament”.
While in the last period Greece outscored Poland (32-19) and the game ended up being a blowout win, things were complicated until the last quarter.
The hosts started the game with an 18-2 lead and end the first period at 27-10. However, the tables were turned pretty quick as Poland had a 17-1 run and made it a one-point game (28-27).
The momentum had changed and Marcel Ponitka with a three gave to Poland the 34-32 lead. But with Giannis back setting the tone on defense, Greece got again a solid 50-37 halftime advantage.
The game was a dogfight with Greece leading by 10 at the end of the third (69-59) and Giannis having scored already 24 points in 20 minutes of action, including 2/4 threes.
Defense was dominating, the refs permitted physical game which turned out to be in favor of Greece’s effort and Poland couldn’t keep up in the last quarter.
Tyler Dorsey added 19 points for the winning side with four made threes, Ioannis Papapetrou scored 12, Kostas Antetokounmpo had 11, while Sloukas still clearly out of synch got four points.
On the other side, Ponitka had 15 points and Michal Sokolowski added 13.