Greece defeated Angola 102-61 in a group B match in the preliminary round of the Olympic Men's Basketball tournament on Saturday, August 16.
Angola's Eduardo Mingas was the high scorer of the game, netting 23 points and grabbing three rebounds. His teammate Luis Costa contributed 16 points.
Ioannis Bourousis of Greece gave a stunning performance, taking 22 points in his 13 minutes on court. He made all of his ten shooting attempts and grabbed five rebounds.
The first quarter saw the two team's scores neck-and-neck, reaching 6-5 midway and 12-11 in Greece's favor. The next two quarters determined Angola's loss. Greece scored 31 points in the second quarter and 38 in the third, while Angola only managed 17 and 14 respectively.
Although Angola played into better form in the fourth quarter, gaining the same 21 points as Greece, the deficit accumulated in the proceeding twenty minutes was too much to overcome. The game ended 102-61, with Greece leading a 41 point margin.
Greece centre Andreas Glyniadakis commented on the game afterward: "Angola didn't handle our pressure and it was an easy game to get ready for China."
When asked whether scoring 102 points was a confidence-booster going into the game against China, he replied: "I don't know about a confidence-booster. We tried some things today that we may use against China."
(BOCOG August 16, 2008)