Greece defeats Georgia behind solid second-half effort; next up, Turkey

The Greek national team without Giannis Antetokounmpo playing defeated Georgia with a final score of 86-70 (16-21, 18-16, 22-10, 24-20) in the Acropolis tournament in OAKA in front of 6,000 fans.

During the first half of the third quarter, Greece made an extraordinary run with primarily reserve players contributing to increase the lead and then run away with the game, despite Toko Shengelia's effort to keep the game alive.

Greece gained the first lead of the game at the start of the third quarter during a 13-2 run, after which they gained an 8-point advantage (47-39). The run was led by Michalis Lountzis', who hit two 3-pointers in a span of two minutes.

In the fourth quarter, Greece only solidified the win behind 10 points in the quarter from Kostas Sloukas.

Greece tied the game with 2:25 left in the first half behind Thanasis Antetokounmpo's hustle plays and Kostas Antetokounmpo's 6 points.

Georgia started the game better and was up by 9 points (25-16) at the beginning of the second quarter, mostly thanks to Alexander Mamukelashvili's contributions.

It was a rebound game for Sloukas, who had 4 points, 1 assist, and 2 turnovers performance a night before against Poland.

The Greek superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo is expected to return to the Greek national team's lineup for the next game against Turkey on Friday.

For Greece, Kostas Sloukas had 21 points (8/9 2PTS, 1/4 3 PTS, 2/2 FT), 2 rebounds, and 1 steal.

Georgia was led by Alexander Mamukelashvili, who ended up with 21 points (9/11 2PTS, 0/4 3 PTS, 3/3 FT), 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, and 1 block.