By David Hein

Nikos Pappas hit a jumper off the glass with 0.6 seconds left to give hosts Greece a thrilling 73-71 victory over Russia in qualifying round Group E of the U20 European Championship.

Georgios Bogris led five Greek players in double figures with 17 points while Leonidas Kaselakis had 14 points, five rebounds and five assists and Pappas scored 13 points for Kostas Missas's Greece, who improved to 2-1 in the group.

Kostas Papanikolaou hit for 11 points and Charalampos Giannopoulos chipped in 10 points in the winning effort.
Semen Antonov led all scorers with 22 points and 10 rebounds while Maxim Zakharov scored 12 points and Vladimir Ivlev had 10 points and nine rebounds. The defeat dropped Russia to 1-2 in the group.

Alexander Vasin's Russians pulled ahead early 8-2. But Greece used the home crowd to go on an 11-3 run to take the lead 17-16. And the Greeks were ahead 23-22 after one period.

Trailing 27-25, Antonov and Vladimir Filippov each knocked down long balls during an 11-2 spurt to push Russia in front 36-29. But the lead was just 36-34 at the break.

The Russians did not have an answer for Bogris in the third quarter as he scored 11 points. He helped Greece pull ahead 50-43 midway through the third period. But Russia regained the lead with another 11-2 run to make it 54-52. Three Greek free throws knotted the game before Giannopoulos nailed back-to-back three-balls for a 60-54 cushion after three periods.

Antonov started the fourth quarter with two treys and a three-point play to give Russia a 66-65 lead. Two Kaselakis baskets put Greece ahead 69-66. But Russia would even the game 71-71 on Viacheslav Zaytsev's foul shots with 52 seconds remaining.

Papanikolaou missed two free throws with 37 seconds left but Zaytsev was off on his jumper with 12 seconds to play, setting up Pappas's heroics. And with 0.6 seconds left, Russia's inbounds pass went out of bounds, securing Greece the victory.