The Greek U18 national basketball team defeated Turkey 64 – 61 and bagged the gold medal in the 2015 FIBA Europe Championship that was held in Volos. This is the second gold for Greece, since the 2008 tournament that was held in Pyrgos.
Although the Greek team had played remarkably throughout the tournament, it found fierce opposition in the Turkish side and was trailing for most of the game. At one point Turkey was ahead by 14 points, but was unable to manage the score and wasted opportunity after opportunity to secure a victory. Two three-pointer by Dionisis Skoulidas and Iakovos Milentigievits in the 36th minute of the game put Greece ahead.
The final, nail-biting minutes of the game were tense, with Greece however turning out to be calmer and more accurate from the free throws line and brought back the gold. Vasilis Charalambopoulos was named as the tournament’s MVP and scored 23 points in the final, while Giorgos Papagiannis scored 12 points and collected 15 rebounds.
Highlights from the final:
