FIBA EuroBasket 2011 Day 4 Review – Macedonia stuns Greece; Slovenia humbles Georgia: Part-2
Macedonia 72 - Greece 58
Bo McCalebb scored eight of the 11 points in a game changing spurt early in the fourth quarter and finished the night with a game-high 27 points as Macedonia stunned Greece 72-58, throwing the Group C wide open.
Greece which is considered to be one of the elite teams in Europe shot only 31 percent from the floor. Despite of their struggles from the floor, they played a stifling defence and by the time, the first half ended they trailed
the Macedonians by only one point at 30-29.
However, after the first five minutes of the third quarter followed the same trend and the game tied at 38 all, the Macedonians finally stepped up and reeled off a 12-4 run in the next three minutes to snatch a 50-42 lead. Greece
immediately called a time out and when they came back, they made it a three point game at 50-47 heading into the final frame.
Greece started the fourth with a two to make it 50-49. However, just when it seemed that the game was slipping from their grasp, the Macedonians pulled away with an 11-1 burst. They never looked back after that and caused the biggest
upset of the tournament so far with a 14 point win.
Antonios Fotsis was the only persistent scoring threat for Greece in the game. He finished with 16 points on 6-for-13 shooting from the field. Ioannis Bourousis recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards, but made just
two of his 11 shots.
Slovenia 87 - Georgia 75
Despite of a poor start which saw them trailing by as many as 13 in the second quarter, Slovenia cashed in on the depth in their roster to pry apart Georgia 87-75 and maintain their perfect 3-0 record in Group D on Saturday.
It was an off shooting night for Goran Dragic, who scored just two points on a meagre 13 percent shooting from the floor. However Slovenia found more than reliable offensive options in the form of Jaka Lakovic and Saso Ozbolt.
Lakovic was exceptional from the long range and nailed five try in his 22 points. Ozbolt had 21 points including four treys. He also had four steals on the night.
Zoran Dragic also punctuated 15 points; Erazem Lorbek had 12 while Goran Jagodnik chipped in with 10 for the Slovenians, who really turned it after going down by 13 midway through the second quarter.
The Slovenians trailed by 10 after the first quarter, but by the time the first half ended, the scored were tied at 40. The Georgians continued to play tight defense after the break, but a 11-2 spurt midway through the third quarter
did them and they spent the rest of the game chasing a lead.
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