Serbia beat Turkey yesterday in the last day of the first round of U-16 Turk Telekom tournament at Konya (Turkey). The two teams have a lot of options to play the big final, so yesterday they tested eachother with serbian victory (89-92). Guard Nikola Radicevic ('94) -at the pic-, from Partizan, showed why he played good minutes in last U-16 European Championship in Kaunas, and against turkish collected 19 points, 3 rebounds and 1 steal in only 25 minutes. Forward Nikola Jankovic ('94) kept his great level (16 points, 12 rebounds and 1 block), while Milos Jankovic ('94) played his best game in the tournament with 14 points and 2 rebounds. At local side power-forward Burak Yildizli ('94) made a monster game with 28 points, 8 rebounds and 1 block, and Tayfun Erulku ('94) added 26, but not enough. Youngster Kenan Sipahi ('95) made another complete performance with 10 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds and 4 steals.
In the other game of group A Poland beat Germany (81-88) with forward Norman Zuber ('94) leading the victory. The prospect played only 18 minutes, but enough to collect 27 points with 4/5 behind the arc. It was a great game of polish small men. 1.77 point-guard Jan Grzelinski ('94) nailed 17 points and dished 15 assists, while guard Daniel Szymkiewicz ('94) finished with 15 points, 10 assists, 7 steals, 4 rebounds and 1 block. At german side forward Dominique Uhi ('94) didn't waste his time: 13 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists in 19 minutes.
Let's talk about group B. France finished the first round unbeaten (3-0) after yesterday's victory over Greece (71-48). Paris Maragkos ('94) didn't play for the losers, who shocked against center Mouhammadou Jaiteh ('94): 14 points and 5 rebounds in 19'. His teammate Benjamin Sene ('94) added 11 points and 7 assists. For Greece guard Ioannis Karamalegkos ('94) scored 13 points with 3/5 threes.
Finally Italy beat Slovenia (80-77) with forward Corrado Bianconi ('94), from Virtus Siena, collecting 23 points with 4/7 threes,. Forward Jure Kopac ('94) finished as the best slovenian with his by far best tournament's game: 21 points with 3/5 behind the arc.
Standings.
Group A: Serbia (3-0), Turkey (2-1), Poland (1-2) and Germany (0-3).
Group B: France (3-0), Italy (2-1), Greece (1-2) and Slovenia (1-2).
Today is day off. Tomorrow, the quarterfinal games: Italy - Poland, Turkey - Greece, Serbia - Slovenia and France - Germany.
Photo: FIBA Europe / Alius Koroliovas
