After two defeats against France and Sweden and yesterday’s victory over Denmark, our under-18 national team starts the European basketball championship in Finland.
In addition to Neoklis Avdal, Pyliotis, another Messinian originally from Andreas Patrikis, competes in the colors of our representative team.
Greek team 3the the game was arranged as follows: Vlassis, Prekas, Rozakeas 2, Spartalis 11 (2/8 two-pointers, 7/10 shots), Amposi 4 (2/10 shots), Avdalas 15 (6/6 two-pointers), 1/3 three-pointers, 5 steals), Komnianidis, Patrikis 14 (7/9 two-pointers, 6 rebounds), Alexakis 10 (6 rebounds), Liotopoulos 15 (3/4 two-pointers, 3/6 three-pointers), Chantzis 5 (1), Pagonis 19 (4/7 two-pointers, 2/4 three-pointers, 5/11 shooting, 10 rebounds, 2 assists).
The next test will be tonight at 9:00 p.m. the match with Belgium, where the qualification for the “eighth” of the competition was passed.
In statements made on the website of the DEKA Thessaloniki academy owned by Andreas Patrikis (son of the former outstanding basketball player Dimitris), he said: “I only see the ball at these stages. I just want the ball. I am ambitious for every stage, I want to be strong in every situation and do my best for my team.
“I think we played more as a team (including the game against the Danes) and had a different mindset. We all sat down and talked as a group and I think that was something that helped us a lot. I believe we have found it and will continue to do so.
I think we can pass. We need to show teamwork again, focus and win. If we do this, we have no one to fear.”
The pairings of the round of 16 are as follows:
20.30 Spain-Israel
18.00 France-Turkey
18.30 Serbia-Finland
21.00 Belgium-Greece
15.30 Slovenia-Latvia
13.00 Sweden-Croatia
16.00 Italy-Lithuania
13.30 Germany-Denmark