CIV/GRE – Greece get back on track with crushing of Ivory Coast

ANKARA (2010 FIBA World Championship) – Greece showed no ill effects of their defeat against hosts Turkey on Tuesday as they cruised to a comfortable 97-60 win over Ivory Coast in Ankara on Wednesday.

Jonas Kazlauskas’s side used a 27-5 second quarter to put the game well and truly out of Ivory Coast’s reach to improve to 3-1 and leave the minnows still in search of their first win.

The Ivorians got off to a great start, scoring the game’s first seven points on a Guy Edi three-pointer, a teardrop by Mouloukou Diabate and Kindinnin Konate’s floater.

However, Greece answered right back with a 9-0 spurt that saw Konstantinos Tsartsaris converting two three-point plays and Vasileios Spanoulis hitting from beyond the arc.

Mamadou Lamizana knocked down a long bomb of his own to edge the Elephants back in front 10-9 before the Greeks struck back with Ioannis Bourousis and Antonios Fotsis connecting from beyond the arc and Spanoulis scored the last four games of the period for a 20-14 advantage.

Greece pulled away for good in the second quarter, outscoring their opponents 27-5 and holding them without a single point for close to six minutes.

Tsartaris scored six quick points inside as Jonas Kazlauskas’s side went up 28-14 with 7:30 left in the first half.

Sofoklis Schortsanidis then made his presence felt inside to help stretch the advantage to 36-16 before Spanoulis and Nick Calathes used some great ball movement to get easy points in transition and create open looks in the halfcourt for their team-mates.

Greece led 47-19 at the break and the second half allowed them to rest some of their key players without the level of play dropping as all 12 players got on the scoring sheet.

You can see the complete highlights of the game, as well as an interview with Nikos Zisis on FIBATV.Com.

Quotes:

Jonas Kazlauskas (Greece head coach): “Today was a good game for us except the first few minutes.”

Konstantinos Kaimakoglou (Greece forward): “After a crucial game against Turkey that we couldn’t win, we talked and said life goes on and we have to keep playing and that’s what we did today. We pressed hard for 40 minutes and played with a lot of energy. We showed we’re in good shape for our next game against Russia. The most important thing is to be ready for the next round.”

Randoald Dessarzin (Ivory Coast head coach): “I was hoping that Greece would win against Turkey in five overtimes but instead they lost. We went in front 7-0 but they came back because they are so steady and have so much experience that they manage those situations very well. Every time we had a run against us, we pushed the panic button. We need to get inspiration from these countries that have basketball traditions and have spent time and money to develop the game. Greece were just dominant, spot by spot, at all positions. We played a team better than us.”


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