Israel fell to Greece 68-65 in their Round of 16 matchup and were eliminated from contending for the European Championship as they will now have to play in the classification round and avoid dropping into Division B.

The blue-and-white came out sluggish and fell behind early as they needed to chase after the Greeks throughout the 40 minutes and while Israel kept the game close poor free throw shooting and rebounding cost them the opportunity to take a lead and move on in the competition.

Greece raced out to an early 9-2 lead but Israel chipped away with points from Noam Yaacov, but a last gasp triple by Nikolaos Vasileiou at the buzzer gave the Greeks a 19-15 lead after ten minutes of play. Alon Michaeli scored to keep the blue-and-white close but Greece worked the boards to their advantage and took a 34-29 lead into halftime.

Triples from Ilay Dolinski and tough baskets from Michaeli brought Elad Hasin’s team to within 1-point as Nikolaos Plotas kept Greece in front 50-49 after thirty minutes of action. Ioannis Karakostas scored at will to begin the fourth quarter and give the Greeks a double digit lead midway through the frame.

Yaacov, Shachar Doron and Eyal Harel made a last gasp effort with points from the inside and outside but too many missed free throws throughout the game and especially down the stretch by Yaacov cost Israel a chance to return to the finals for the second straight year as they will now play in the classification round.

Michaeli scored 17 points, Yaacov added 16 points and Dolinski chipped in with 11 points in the loss. Karakostas led Greece with 20 points and Plotas scored 14 points in the win.