Greece coach Georgios Vlassopolous said before the tournament that defence is his team’s weapon, and it proved too much for Angola to handle on day 1 of the FIBA U19 World Championship, winning 101-58.
The Angolans did not let Greece have it all their own way, trailing by just 28-19 at quarter time, but the Europeans champions’ defence held Angola to eight points in the second quarter to set up a 45-27 half time difference, from which the African runners up would never recover.
Vlantimir Giankovits led Greece with 15 points in the decisive first half, and finished with 18 points and 7 rebounds. Guard Nikolaos Pappas top scored with 20 points on 8/14 field goal shooting.
Angola showed in the third quarter that they will not necessarily be easy beats for Puerto Rico and Lithuania, with power forward Miguel Kiala particularly impressive, scoring 10 points to help his team score 24 for the period.
Kiala finished with 16 points and 18 rebounds in an impressive display. Edson Ndoniema, Emmanuel Antonio and Eduardo Ferreira all scored 10 points. Ferreira also recorded 6 steals for the game.
Greece left Angola with a reminder of their tough defence in the final term, holding their opponents to just seven points to secure the 43-point margin.
The Greeks will need all their defensive prowess to contain the Puerto Ricans when they play at ASB Stadium at 5:00 pm Friday, while Angola face the tough task of Lithuania in the late game at 7:30 pm. Angola took the fourth place of Group A standing with 1 point.
Egypt, the second African country bowed to France 56 - 102 in Group B game. Egypt will face Iran on Friday at Auckland at 10 :00 am.