Israel’s cadet team was very close to a huge surprise this evening (Wednesday), but in the end their journey came to a halt. The team in blue and white lost 75:68 against the Greek team in the quarterfinals of the European Championship, in a game in which they already held a promising lead.
Israel scored: Ben Sharaf 30 points (10 rebounds), Omer Meir 11, Rani Balga 8, Uri Yair 6, Ariel Sela 5, Miron Katz 4, Amit Zucker 3
Ben Sharaf led with another huge display at the head of the talented group, which had already risen to a 14-point lead during the third quarter. But then the mighty Greek run began, leaving Israel far behind. The one who led the Greeks was Naukalis Abdalas, who with 29 points was the opponent’s main executor.
Still, this is a great performance by the Israeli team. Greece has yet to lose in the tournament, and defeated opponent after opponent on the way to the meeting with Israel, which made it more difficult than any other team. Anyway, now Israel will go to the ranking games for places 5 to 8 and will meet the Turkish team in the next game.