By Menelaos Sevastiadis
The biggest game for the first day of FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Caracas proved to be the biggest upset. Angola beat ambitious FYROM 88-84, after leading by 17 points in second quarter with guard Olimpio Cipriano scoring 23 points and having also 5 rebounds. Naturalized American guard Bo McCalebb with 21 points and 4 assists tried to steal the game in the second half, but Africans finally prevailed.
That was not the case in the last match of the dat, where Venezuela got the win against Nigeria just by two points (71-69). The star of the host team Greivis Vasquez of New Orleans Hornets scored 24 points but the hero of the night was Hector Rοmero who sealed the victory with a block.
In the first two games Russia and Greece toyed with Korea and Jordan, beating them respectively by 35 (91-56) and 44 points (107-63). Andrei Kirilenko with 16 points and Nicks draft pick Kostas Papanikolaou with 19 points were the top scorers for the winners.