Greece defeated by Romania in FIBA World Cup qualification match

On the fifth matchday of the FIBA World Cup qualifying group 2, Greece lost to Romania with a final score of 73-66. Despite holding a lead that reached 14 points at 44-58 during the third quarter, the Greek team failed to maintain its advantage. Romania executed a decisive 22-8 run in the final ten minutes to secure the victory. Key contributors for Greece included Larentzakis and Charalampopoulos, but the team's record dropped to 3-2 following this defeat. This result complicates Greece's standing ahead of the second qualifying phase, as the record will carry over. Head coach Vassilis Spanoulis led the Greek squad, which started with a lineup including Larentzakis, Moraitis, Toliopoulos, Papanikolaou, and Kaklamanakis. Greece is scheduled to host Portugal on July 5 at the Sunel Arena in Athens for their final game of the initial qualifying round.