Greece pulled away from Mexico late in the third quarter to secure an 86-70 win and take top honours in Group A ahead of Friday's Semi-Finals of the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Turin with a 2-0 mark.
The teams were evenly matched in the first half as Mexico led 16-15 at the end of the first quarter and 35-33 at halftime. Much of that was down to the scoring punch provided by Francisco Cruz who, after coming off the bench in Tuesday's win over Iran, was inserted in the starting line-up and had 13 points heading into the locker room.
They traded baskets at the start of the the second half and Mexico's Hector Hernandez tied the score at 42 with 6:42 left in the third quarter. That is when the Greeks blew the game wide open with an 18-6 run to end the period which gave them a commanding 60-48 advantage. The Mexicans cut the deficit to 67-58 on a Hernandez three-pointer with 6:18 left to play, but Greece's depth enabled them to hold them off.
Turning Point: Kostas Koufos got Greece's pivotal third quarter spurt going by scoring inside and point guard Nick Calathes then took over, either scoring himself or setting up his team-mates.
Stats Don't Lie: Greece scored 38 points in the paint on 19-of-37 shooting (51 percent), whereas Mexico count only manage 16 points on 8-of-28 shooting (29 percent).
Game Hero: Giannis Antetokounmpo was extremely productive, scoring a game-high 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting - including 3-of-5 from threee-point range - in only 21 minutes.
The Bottom Line: Both Greece and Mexico were assured of advancing to Friday's Semi-Finals ahead of this game. The Greeks will face the winners of the last Group Phase game between Croatia and Tunisia. Mexico meanwhile will go up against hosts Italy, who topped Group B.
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