Alperen Şengün and Türkiye are headed to the EuroBasket 2025 championship game.
Türkiye defeated Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece 94-68 in Friday’s semifinal showdown to clinch a spot against Germany in the title game. Greece will go against Lauri Markkanen and Finland in the third-place game.
While Germany will feature familiar names for NBA fans with Franz Wagner and Dennis Schröder in the championship game, the matchup between Greece and Türkiye meant a showdown between two of the biggest stars of the tournament in Antetokounmpo and Şengün.
Şengün was fresh off a triple-double in the quarterfinal win over Poland, while Antetokounmpo has been unstoppable throughout the tournament.
Neither one of them took over the game, but they each notched a double-double. Şengün did a little bit of everything and posted 15 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, two steals and one block, while Antetokounmpo finished with 12 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.
It wasn’t the type of unbelievable performance Greece needed from the Milwaukee Bucks star, which allowed Türkiye to run away with it. And it was far from a one-man show for the victors, as Şengün was one of four players to finish in double figures.
Ercan Osmani led the scoring efforts for Türkiye with 28 points on 11-of-15 shooting from the field and 6-of-8 shooting from deep, while Cedi Osman (17 points) and Shane Larkin (14 points and five assists) also played well.
Osmani wasted no time setting the tone with his red-hot three-point shooting, which helped Türkiye jump out to a double-digit lead in the first quarter. It extended that advantage to more than 20 in the second quarter before settling on an 18-point halftime lead.
Perhaps the most concerning thing for Greece was that Türkiye controlled the entire first half even though Şengün was just 2-of-11 from the field.
Yet he helped control the boards and facilitated when Greece collapsed on him. He also helped on the defensive side as Antetokounmpo managed just four points in the first half and didn’t look like the same overwhelming force who was so unstoppable earlier in the tournament.
Without a typical performance from Antetokounmpo, Greece was simply overmatched.
Türkiye continued to keep Greece at bay with a balanced attack and suffocating defense, which prevented Antetokounmpo from taking over down the stretch. As a result, Türkiye heads into the championship game against a strong Germany side with plenty of momentum and star power of its own.
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