Greece’s 100% Eurobasket 2009 record remained intact after an 8 point win over Germany in the qualifying round of the tournament in Poland.

The side has now qualified for the quarter finals with Monday morning’s match against Russia effectively a dead-rubber for Greece.

Greece has been the inform side of the tournament, never really having been tested in the three Round 1 Group games, which saw a 32 point thumping of FYROM, a ten point win over Croatia and a 26 point dismissal of Israel.

But the 84-76 win over Germany was undoubtedly the hardest fought win for Jonas Kazlauskas and his side.

With only a six point lead, 74-68, with three minutes to play, Sofoklis Schortsanitis and Vasilis Spanoulis ended Germany’s hopes with what was effectively a five point play.

Big ‘Sofo’ nailed a power-move in the paint, drew the foul but missed his free throw.

Spanoulis was on hand from the resultant offensive rebound to score a three pointer and turn the six point advantage into an unassailable 11 point lead.

Spanoulis finished the game with 20 points and shot 66% from the field. He added seven assists and four rebounds.

Sofoklis Schortsanitis added 14 points while Antonios Fotsis and Nikos Zisis added 12 each.

“Germany played a great game and gave us a lot of problems,” confessed Coach Jonas Kazlauskas.

“The inside game was very difficult for both sides and it shows they were very ready for this game.

“They controlled the tempo, which made it very difficult for us to play them,” he summarised.

Nikos Zisis drew three early fouls from Steffan Hamann after just four minutes, but Germany continued to be in foul trouble and reached no less than 13 personal fouls after one quarter.

“We executed our game plan very well, as we wanted to play as smart and aggressive as Greece does,” revealed Coach Bauermann.

“Maybe we were too aggressive in the first minutes and it cost us with a lot of quick fouls that allowed Greece to open a gap and when you allow Greece to take such lead, it’s very difficult to come back.

“I think starting too aggressive was the only major mistake we made today.”

“In the start of the third quarter for no reason our defence relaxed,” shared Zisis.

“We let them score some easy baskets on pick-and-roll and one-on-one situations and that allowed them to come back into the game.”