By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Greece beat Italy 76 – 74 on the back of a dominant third quarter in the closing game of the 2025 Acropolis Tournament ahead of the EuroBasket.
The winning side was minus Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kostas Sloukas and Dinos Mitoglou, all three of them projected as starters.
“I was sad when I learned that Giannis will not play and that’s what I said before the game to coach Spanoulis, because you don’t have a lot of chances to play against these players,” said Italian national team coach Gianmarko Pozzecco after the game.
Italy led 40 – 30 at halftime but Greece stormed out of the locker room to overpower its opponents 27 – 10 during the third period. The game was closed until the last minutes with the Greek side retaining an advantage.
Tyler Dorsey had 14 points and four assists for Greece. Kostas Papanikolaou scored 11, Panagiotiz Kalaitzakis posted 10 points plus five rebounds while Vassilis Toliopoulos added 10 points as well.
Simonte Fontecchio (18 points, six rebounds) and Saliou Niang (14 points, six rebounds) scored in double figures from Italy. Nicolo Melli contributed, nine points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Danilo Gallinari was out for the Azzurri.