The U-16 Division "A" European Championship started today in Kaunas (Lithuania) with serbian Nenad Miljenovic ('93) as one of the players more scouts will follow. But another name jumped at the palestra in this first day: french guard Hugo Invernizzi ('93), at the pic. The prospect of Centre Federale academy crashed serbians with 34 points and 9/11 behind the arc. Amazing. And victory of France (74-87). Miljenovic made a good job (20 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists), but not enough to stop the french machine. At the same group D Latvia beat Ukraine (80-60) with another rising star on fire: Kaspars Vecvagars ('93). The latvian point-guard collected 33 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists leading his team to the victory infront a group with point-guard Klym Artamonov ('93) as their best man with 13 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists.
Let's take a look to the other groups in this first day. At group A Israel beat Montenegro (81-66) even the good game of one of the youngest tournament players, Filip Knezevic ('94), with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks. At winner side the best scorer has been Sergey Zelikman ('93) with 16 and 6 rebounds. At the other game Turkey won Italy (69-59), and turkish Berkay Kandan ('93) finished as the MVP of it with 19 points and 13 rebounds in only 25 minutes. The best italian has been point-guard Diego Monaldi ('93), with 17 and 3/6 from three points line.
What about group B? So Russia beat Lithuania (70-80) with Sergey Karasev ('93) and Gleb Goldyrev ('93) collecting 18 points and 12 rebounds each. Small-forward Tauras Jogela ('93) made a good performance for lithuanians: 24 points and 11 rebounds. At the other game Greece lost against Poland (69-76) with polish power-foward Piotr Niedzwiedzki ('93) as their best scorer with 16 points and 8 rebounds in only 25 minutes. Greek guard Emmanouil-Antonios Tslentakis ('93), the player who felt more comfortable on offense at the other side: 14 points with 2/5 behind the arc.
At group C Spain beat Croatia (66-64) after one overtime, a team with one of the best european propspects of his age in the roster: Dario Saric ('94). The all-around player collected 7 points and 7 rebounds, but with 5 turnovers and 5 fouls. He only scored from free throws line. The great job of his teammate Marko Ramljak ('93), not enough to win. He scored 25 points and 4/9 from 3 points line. Team coached by Diego Ocampo had in Daniel Diez ('93) their best scorer with 11 and 6 rebounds. At the other game Germany won Czech Republic (64-75). German Tim Unterluggauer ('93) and czechs Josef Bajar ('93) and Martin Kriz ('93), best scorers of their teams with 16 and 13 points.
