GRE - Greece thrash Germany to win Stankovic Cup

NANJING (Stankovic Cup/FIBA World Championship) - European champions Greece blitzed Germany 84-47 to win the Stankovic Cup on Tuesday, a result that is sure to send shockwaves around their FIBA World Championship rivals.

In what was a superb team performance, Greece shared the scoring around with Vasileios Spanoulis being the game's leading contributor with 12 points.

Lazaros Papadopoulos and Antonios Fotsis were the only other Greek players to score in double figures, pouring in 11 and 10 points respectively.

For Germany, Johannes Herber paced his side with 10 points while superstar forward Dirk Nowitzki was only able to net nine points and haul down five rebounds in almost 25 minutes of action.

Greece had looked out of sorts in their Group A games at the Stankovic Cup, squeezing past outsiders Australia 68-60 in their first match and then losing 72-68 to France.

But those results were still enough for Panagiotis Yannakis' side to make it through to the title match, courtesy of their superior points difference.

Germany, meanwhile, made it through to the gold-medal match with a 100% record after recording victories against hosts China (82-73) and Brazil (76-75).

Form went out of the window in the final, though, with Greece demolishing their European rivals in what will be a major boost for the 2005 EuroBasket champions ahead of the FIBA World Championship.

In Japan, Greece have been drawn in Group C with an opening match against Qatar on Saturday. Germany meet Japan on the same day in their first game in Group B.

In the bronze-medal match at the Stankovic Cup, France beat Brazil 86-74.

PA Sport