GB DOWN GREECE TO BLOW GROUP F OPEN

Great Britain withstood a final quarter barrage to beat Greece 73-72 in their FIBA EuroBasket 2025, Group F qualifier at the CopperBox Arena in London on Thursday night.

Gabe Olaseni led Great Britain with 16 points and eight rebounds, supported by 15 points and eight assists by Quinn Ellis.

“We’re happy with the win; that was the goal. I think we could have executed better, but I’m glad we stuck with it and got a big win in front of our fans, family, and friends,” Olaseni said.

Trailing by as many as 17 points in the second quarter, GB turned the tide in the third and eventually took the lead, building it to 66-54 thanks to a three from Ellis with 5:35 left; GB looked comfortable, but Greece were not about to lie down and late run culminating with a three-pointer from Vasileios Toliopoulos made it 70-67 with 1:53 remaining.

Great Britain though took advantage of Greece being in the penalty and were able to seal the win from the foul line.

“We didn’t let our heads drop; we knew they had momentum, but we had belief; even though we weren’t executing, we knew we still had the lead and we needed to close it out, and we did,” Olaseni added.

Toliopoulos paced Greece with 14 points.

“Our group really pride themselves on how we stay together in good moments and difficult moments,” Great Britain coach Marc Steutel said.

“We didn’t find any synergy or flow to the game in that first half, being down by 17 points, but it was huge that we were able to get it down to single digits by the half and then to hold them to 31-point second half, I thought that was key for us, particularly our third quarter, defensively.”

GB started aggressively, preferring to attack the basket. After a determined drive to the hoop, Ellis connected on a three-point play, taking the contact for the score.

On the flip side, Greece, playing in front of an estimated 2,500 visiting fans, managed to maintain its lead throughout the first quarter, helped by a 9-1 run, led by five points from Nikos Chougkaz, which forced coach Steutel into a timeout with GB down 19-12.

Dan Akin scored under the basket out of the timeout, but Greece’s momentum and intensity never budged, shooting 66% from the floor to lead 26-16 after the first ten.

A quick fire 5-0 start to the second by Greece was snapped by a mid-range jumper from Myles Hesson was followed by a putback dunk by Ellis to narrow the gap to 31-20 as Greece’s ball-handling became sloppy through pressuring defence from Great Britain.

Despite the minor hiccups from the Greek guards, they kept their double-digit lead throughout the second. A statement two-hand slam from Vangelis Zougris off the feed from Vasilis Mouratos gave the visitors a 37-30 cushion with 5:42 left in the half.

Despite the deficit, GB kept pushing and kept attacking. Forcing Greece into team fouls, while only committing two fouls themselves and taking advantage, narrowing the gap to 41-33 on the back of an 8-0 finish to the half.

The hosts added another five points to their run to start the third quarter, ungluing the roof off the CopperBox to make it a one-possession game as the hosts battled valiantly after being down by as many as 17 points.

Preferring to let his team play, coach Spanoulis remained calm, and his gamble paid off as the Greeks answered with a 6-0 burst only for GB to respond with a 6-0 spurt of their own, highlighted with a hard drive from Ellis, resulting in a two-hand throw down.

And the noise only intensified as a block from Akin at one end following a lay-up attempt from Dimitris Moraitis, was followed by a big triple from Akwasi Yeboah to give the hosts its first lead of the game at 50-48 with 2:36 left in the third.

With the game tied at 51-51 heading into the final quarter, it was about who could hold their nerve and who could execute better.

Great Britain would strike first. A 10-0 run, highlighted by back-to-back dunks from Ellis and Amin Adamu sent the CopperBox into a frenzy, and forced Greece into a timeout with two minutes of the fourth played.

It would cap a 15-3 run from GB with the added bonus of Greece’s Chougkaz and Zougris fouling out as Steutel’s side now led by double digits themselves.

A late run by Greece however, set up a grandstand finish.

Great Britain are next in action on Sunday when they travel to Greece. For more information, please follow Great Britain Basketball on YouTube, X and Instagram.