Bucks’ Giannis powers Greece to EuroBasket semis
Greece's Giannis Antetokounmpo drives with the ball during Eurobasket, the European Basketball Championship, quarterfinals against Lithuania at the Riga Arena in Riga, Latvia, on Tuesday. (AP photo)
RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 29 points and his younger brother Kostas blocked four shots as Greece beat Lithuania 87-76 to reach the EuroBasket semifinals on Tuesday.
The Milwaukee Bucks star’s clutch free throws in the final minute helped Greece seal the victory to set up a last-four matchup with Turkey.
Antetokounmpo sank two free throws to give Greece a 10-point lead with 19 seconds left after Lithuania had cut Greece’s 16-point fourth-quarter advantage in half. He had made two other free throws with 47 seconds on the clock.
Kostas Antetokounmpo’s four blocked shots all came in the first half. The 27-year-old center plays for Olympiakos. Vasileios Toliopoulos scored 17 points for Greece.
Greece is a two-time EuroBasket champion, having won the tournament in 1987 and 2005.
Jonas Valanciunas led Lithuania with 24 points and 15 rebounds.
Sengun stars as Turkey beats Poland
Alperen Sengun’s triple-double helped unbeaten Turkey to a 91-77 win over Poland. The Houston Rockets forward had 19 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in an entertaining performance.
With his mother in the crowd, Sengun made a one-handed pass the length of the court to Sehmus Hazer, who dunked and gave Sengun a thumbs up late in the second quarter.
Sengun found Hazer again with a spinning no-look pass in the lane in the third quarter and then treated himself to a one-handed reverse dunk with the game in hand.
Turkey pulled away to lead 46-32 at halftime after Poland’s physicality on defense and its bench presented early problems.
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