MONTENEGRO had the last say in its closing salvo against Greece, 73-69, and finished its 2023 Fiba World Cup campaign on a high in Manila on Sunday.
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Even with limited minutes, Nikola Vucevic still proved to be the go-to Montenegrin in scoring with 19 points.
The world No. 18 Montenegrin side exits the global showpiece with three victories in five games against Mexico, Egypt, and Greece.
Meanwhile, Giannis-less Greece picked up two wins over Jordan and New Zealand before dropping both games in Round 2 to Lithuania and Montenegro.
The Greeks trailed by single digis for the most part, but their tournament-long offensive woes held them back from capitalizing on several breaks of the match.
Losing veteran ace Manos Chatzidakis on five fouls and an ankle sprain in the third frame did not help Greece's cause, but the European side did come alive with two minutes of play left and even trimmed the lead to four.
Vucevic responded with six unanswered points of his own, shortly before a 6-0 Greek counter-run with 16 seconds left in regulation.
In the end, time ran out on a spirited Greek fightback as the Montenegrins held on to a hard-earned closing triumph in the global showpiece.
The scores:
Montenegro (73) - Vucevic 19, Radoncic 12, Mihailovic 10, Radovic 8, Ivanovic 7, Popovic 5, Drobnjak 4, Dubljevic 4, Simonovic 2, Slavkovic 2, Ilic DNP, Perry DNP.
Greece (69) - Papapetrou 16, Papanikolaou 13, Bochoridis 13, Walkup 11, Rogkavopoulos 7, Papagiannis 5, Lountzis 2, Chatzidakis 2, Larentzakis 0, Moraitis 0, Antetokounmpo DNP, Mitoglou DNP.
Quarterscores: 19-14; 36-30; 50-42; 73-69.
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