Serbia&Montenegro - Greece 64-72

Lithuania's players celebrate winning the final match (AFP)

Stockholm, SWEDEN, September 14 (www.eurobasket2003.com) - Two teams that will play in the Olympic Games next year met in a game that both had hoped would be for something more than 5th place. Greece seemed to have less motivation problems than Serbia&Montenegro and won easily.

As in Friday's game against Russia, star players Marko Jaric and Predrag Stojakovic, watched the game from the bench.

Center Iakovos Tsakalidis led Greece to an early lead. He scored 12 points and had 3 offensive rebounds when Greece went ahead 37-25 in the first half. Serbia&Montenegro had 10 turnovers, did not attack the basket and shot poorly from behind the arc, 1 for 6.

In the third quarter, Milos Vujanic scored his team's first points from the free throw line after 4.25. Meanwhile, Greece had poured in 8 and had 45-27. Serbia&Montenegro were frustrated, which was underlined by Predrag Drobnjak, talking himself to a technical foul. Dimitrios Diamantidis beat the buzzer with a long three-pointer to make the Greek lead 57-40.

Serbia&Montenegro tried to come back in the fourth quarter by straightening their defense. However, Greece would not let them in the game. Nikolaos Chatzivrettas, 21 points in the game, continued to score form back court, and the Greek defense was working flawlessly. Milan Gurovic scored two threes in the last 3.2 seconds to reduce the loss to 64-72.

Greek guard Chatzivrettas led all scorers on 21 points. He shot 4 for 8 from behind the arc, had 5 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists in 37 minutes. Greece had 8 turnovers against 18 for their opponents and managed to win despite 35% field goal shooting.