The debut of Vassilis Spanoulis on the blue and white bench was accompanied by a great atmosphere of 12,439 fans at the Peace and Friendship Stadium and smiles for the 72-64 victory over the Czech Republic. Walkap, Papanikolaou and Mitoglou were in the foreground.
Vassilis Spanoulis’ tenure at the bench of the Greek National Team started on the right foot, as the official favorite defeated the Czech Republic 72-64 in the first game of the EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers, in front of 12,439 fans who came to the Peace and Friendship Stadium and created a great atmosphere.
Among them are great personalities of Greek basketball, such as Dimitris Diamantidis, Giorgos Printezis, Kostas Tsartsaris, Giannis Bourousis, Lazaros Papadoulopoulos, the entire Olympiacos basketball team, as well as the Women’s National Team.
Diego Ocampo’s team was quite combative, with the game being a derby for most of its duration, but also with Greece taking the lead from the middle of the third period and getting the coveted result, despite being quite unlucky from the perimeter (4/25 threes). Dinos Mitoglou, Kostas Papanikolaou and Thomas Walkap were the three big stars.
The naturalized guard of Olympiacos flirted with a triple-double, scoring 16 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists. The forward of Panathinaikos AKTOR offered on both ends of the floor with 22 points and 7 rebounds, while the captain of the reds showed once again his class and experience, scoring 16 points and grabbing 8 rebounds.
The race
The two teams remained in shallow waters in the first quarter of the game, with the Czechs taking a small lead (12-15, 10′). Greece’s miss from behind the 6m75 (0/9 threes) was quite obvious, as was the lack of a benchmark player in the offense. On the other hand, the defensive performance was quite good.
As a product of the time, Dinos Mitoglou started to become a barometer. The Panathinaikos AKTOR forward closed the first half with 14 points and 6 rebounds, while Kostas Papanikolaou also provided very important help. The Olympiacos captain had another 9 points, along with 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Somehow, the official favorite went into the locker room with a short head start (32-31, 20′).
The Czech Republic found a good period at the beginning of the second half to lead by 7 points (33-40), but Greece responded with an 8-0 run to pass (41-40, 24’20”). By 29′ the blue and white team was able to take a 5-point lead (53-48), but Thomas Satoranski stole and dunked for 53-50 (30′).
The blue and white team was starting to find its footing and after a three by Thomas Walkap, they reached +9 (61-52) at 34’20”, while 3’24” before the final buzzer they had a double-digit lead for the first time (67-56) after a lay-up by Kostas Papanikolaou.
DIRECTORS: Castillo, Gedvilas, Zaszczuk
10 MINUTES: 12-15, 32-31, 53-50, 72-64
The next matches of the two teams: in the second round of Group F Greece will play against the Netherlands (26/2, 20:30) in The Hague, while the Czech Republic will host Great Britain (26/2, 21:15).
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