Greece dampen party in Zagreb

BERLIN/MONTPELLIER/RIGA/ZAGREB (EuroBasket 2015) - Greece recovered from eight points down in the fourth quarter to beat Croatia 72-70 on Sunday and gain the upper hand in EuroBasket 2015 Group C. 

The Greeks staged a 13-2 run to take a 72-67 lead with just over a minute to play and while Krunoslav Simon had a chance to tie the game with one second left, he could not convert.

As so many times before, Vassilis Spanoulis was the driving force behind the Greek fight-back with 16 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds.

It was Greece's second win from their opening two games and makes them favourites to top the group in Zagreb, Croatia.

"In the second half we showed the potential of this team, not only physically but as a character," said Greece head coach Fotis Katsikaris.

"We controlled the game how we wanted to control it. It's a blessing how we can control the game."

Netherlands were brought back down to earth after their historic opening day success, falling 78-71 to The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (MKD), who took control in the second period.

Slovenia won the other game in Group C, 79-68, behind some accurate outside shooting to inflict a second straight loss on Georgia.

Nemanja Bjelica was Serbia's hero once again as he scored the game-winner inside the final second to break German hearts in Berlin.

The 2.09m forward came up with the one-handed floater with 0.9 seconds remaining to decide a contest of 12 lead changes and 10 ties, 68-66.

This followed his 24-point, 10-rebound showing against Spain on Day 1 and saw Serbia take control of Group B.

"We stayed together and Nemanja hit an incredible shot and gave us a victory, which I believe will be the most important for us in this group," said Serbia head coach Aleksandar Djordjevic.

Spain bounced back from their defeat to Serbia with a crushing 104-77 demolition of Turkey as six of their players scored in double figures while Italy outscored Iceland 12-2 in the final three minutes to avoid a second loss.

Lithuania strengthened their case for top spot in Group D by keeping their composure to triumph 68-49 against Latvia in an intense battle of the Baltic neighbours in Riga.

Czech Republic also improved to 2-0 with another impressive performance, cruising to a 78-64 success against Ukraine after Belgium had beaten Estonia 84-55.

In Group A, France used a 21-0 run to burst clear of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Montpellier and triumph 81-54 as Tony Parker scored 11 points to tie Greek legend Nick Galis as the all-time leading scorer in EuroBasket competitions on 1,030 points.

Poland and Israel joined their hosts on two wins from as many games after outlasting Russia 82-79, and Finland 79-66, respectively.

Go to eurobasket2015.org for complete coverage of EuroBasket 2015.

FIBA