Greece beats Australia 77-71, must wait to see if it qualifies
The Greek basketball team notched its first win in the Olympics, 77-71, against Australia Friday, but missed the chance to ensure qualification in the quarterfinals.
Greece will have to wait for the results of the Canada-Spain and Serbia-South Sudan games to see if it will be among the two best of the three third-place finishers.
If Serbia beats South Sudan by 3 or more points Saturday, Greece will qualify.
Greece led 53-36 at halftime and by as much as 18 points (59-41) early in the second half, before Australia mounted a comeback.
An 8-point victory would have ensured qualification, but Nick Calathes missed a 3-point attempt with 2 seconds left.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led Greece with 20 points, adding 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Thomas Walkup, with 18 points and Dinos Mitoglou (13) were the other double-digit scorers.
Jock Landale led Australia with 17 points.
