Greece crashes out of the FIBA World Cup

Greece has missed out on the quarterfinals of the FIBA World Cup as it crumbled against Lithuania in the second half on Friday to go down 92-67.

The Greek national team wasted an eight-point advantage (40-32) late in the first half, that ended 43-39, to suffer a bad loss in the be-all and end-all match in the second phase of the tournament.

Lithuania had a strong start (9-2) to the match, but Greece responded with a series of triples that gave it a five-point advantage (18-13). Its improved defense against a frustrated Lithuania saw the Greeks stay head throughout the rest of the first half, led by Thomas Walkup and Giannoulis Larentzakis.

Suddenly the Greek team slowed down in the third period with the quality players of Lithuania taking full control of the game. They denied the Greek offense time and again and made distance shots with ease as the defensive...