June 19, 2013
Olympic Qualifying Tournament: Day 1 – July 2, 2012
Olympic Qualifying logoThe stars of last season’s Turkish Airlines Euroleague title games had banner days in the opening games of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Caracas, Venezuela, on Monday. Final Four MVP Vassilis Spanoulis of Olympiacos dished 7 assists as Greece routed Jordan, while Euroleague MVP Andrei Kirilenko led Russia in scoring as it mauled South Korea. Things did not go as well for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, which lost to Angola. Monday’s other game saw host Venezuela edge Nigeria. In Tuesday’s games, South Korea faces elimination in a must win game against the Dominican Republic; likewise FYROM must beat New Zealand to remain alive, Puerto Rico plays its first game against Jordan and Venezuela looks to clinch a semifinals berth when it meets Lithuania.

Group C: Russia 91-56 South Korea
Andrei Kirilenko – Russia (Photo: FIBA)Russia opened up the tournament with a resounding 91-56 victory over South Korea. The Russians led by 11 after 10 minutes and 19 by halftime en route to a convincing win. Head coach David Blatt was able to divvy up the minutes with every player seeing at least 11 minutes of action and none playing more than 22. Reigning Euroleague MVP Andrei Kirilenko scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half to pact the winners. Sergey Monya of BC Khimki added 14 and centers Sasha Kaun of CSKA and Timofey Mozgov added 12 each for Russia, which dominated the glass 46-25. Eric Sandrin led Korea with 15 points.

Group A: Greece 107-63 Jordan
Greece made quick work of Jordan to start things in Group A in style. Eight different players scored in a 23-0 run bridging the first and second quarters that made it 42-12 and set the stage for an easy win. It was 56-23 by halftime and the Greeks cruised the rest of the way. Kostas Papanikolaou paced five Greek scorers in double figures with 19 points, his Olympiacos teammate Georgios Printezis tallied 16 points and 7 rebounds, Gescrab BB center Dimitrios Mavroeidis added 15 points, Antonis Fotsis of EA7 Emporio Armani collected 11 points and 5 assists and Nick Calathes also scored 11. Enver Soobzokov paced Jordan with 14 points and 4 assists.

Group D: Angola 88-84 FYROM
Olimpio Cipriano – Angola (Photo: FIBA)Angola pulled away late in the first quarter to take a double-digit lead and held on the rest of the way to beat the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia. After Olympiacos big man Pero Antic nailed a triple to bring FYROM within 18-17, Armado Costa, Joaquim Gomes and Carlos Morais each connected from downtown in an 11-2 run as Angola snatched a 32-21 lead through 10 minutes. The lead reached 46-29 midway through the second quarter and stood at 53-40 at halftime. Angola went into the fourth quarter up 13, but FYROM made a game of it and rallied to within 80-78 on a Todor Gecevski fast break bucket with 2:15 to go. The game came down to free throws in the end and Eduardo Mingas and Olimpio Cipriano went 4 for 4 in the final 13 seconds to snatch the win. Mingas finished with 24 points, Cipriano added 23 and Gomes added 13 points and 11 rebounds for the winners. Montepaschi guard Bo McCalebb led FYROM with 21 points and Antic had 17 in defeat.

Group B: Nigeria 69-71 Venezuela
Host Venezuela held on to edge Nigeria 69-71 in the nightcap behind 24 points from Greivis Vasquez. The game was close for much of the 40 minutes with Nigeria up 18-17 after one quarter and Venezuela leading 27-29 at the break. The host team made its move as Vasquez scored 8 and David Cubillan 5 in a 3-15 run early in the third quarter that put Venezuela in control only to see Nigeria rally back within 50-51 through three quarters. Nigeria was held to just 2 points in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter and though it continued to fight, its last charge down the stretch proved too late as Venezuela snatched the important win. Cubillan added 13 points and 6 assists for the winners. Ike Diogu scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Nigeria in defeat.
Tuesday, July 03, 2012
Euroleague.net
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