The battle for the semifinals started today, but will finish tomorrow. The U-18 Albert Schweitzer Tournament of Mannheim (Germany) arrived to its hottest moment, but two teams already qualyfied for the top-4. Germany U-18 and Germany U-17 will finish between the best four of the competition after adding today great victories over Italy and Turkey. The other two spots will be for two of these squads: USA, Spain, Croatia or Australia. What happened today?
Spain opened the fourth quarter one point up, but finally the team coached by Ricard Casas lost against USA. Both teams are fighting for a spot in the semifinals, so this result will be very important (81-91). Jaime Fernández ('93) -at the pic-, who last summer was named MVP of the U-16 European Championship at Kaunas (Lithuania) after leading Spain to the gold medal, scored 28 points against the americans in their house (US Sports Arena). The guard made 6/10 threes and 10/24 FG, with 2 rebounds and 2 assists in 29 minutes. Joan Creus ('92), who is in a great shape, also played in a good level: 19 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
Important step forward of Germany U-18 this afternoon at the MWS Halle am Herzogenried, reaching the semifinals. Italy, after losing Monday against Germany U-17, did the same against one year older squad (66-54), with Philipp Neumann ('92) and Co. remaining unbeaten.The power-forward made a 27 valoration, with 15 points, 16 rebounds and 6 blocks, showing his paint potential. His teammate Bill Borekambi ('92) -also inside player- nailed 17, adding 7 rebounds and 1 assist. 52 to 35 in rebounds for both teams. No comment. Guard Andrea Traini ('92), the second best player in valoration of the tournament till today, struggled: 0 points, with 0/5 FG and 4 turnovers. Marco Ceron ('92), actually in Lega 2 with Venezia, wasn't enough, even his 21 points with 4/8 behind the arc. Ceron averaged last season 31.0 points per game in the final round of U-17 Italian Championship.
Germany U-17 added its fourth win in four games also, qualifying for the semifinals like their "older brothers". The local youngsters beat Turkey (53-59) led by Julius Wolf ('93), with 18 points (4/5 threes) and 9 rebounds. Paul Albrecht ('93) made also a great job: 11 points with 4/5 twos. At turkish side Ozan Gorbaciouglu ('92) nailed 15 with 3 rebounds, while captain Safak Edge ('93) scored 13 but with 2/9 behind the arc (Monday he made 1/10).
Let's talk about Croatia. Dario Saric ('94) repeated again great numbers for his age, but croatians lost against Australia (78-59). The all-around prospect scored 16 points, pulling down 4 rebounds and dishing 4 assists, the only player of his team with more than 9 points. Boris Barac ('92), who gave us good sensations Monday in the Eurohopes trip to Mannheim, nailed 9 points, with 5 rebounds and 1 assist. Croatians still dream with the semifinals
Standings of the battle of the top eight teams, with one game remaining before semifinals:
Group E: Germany U-18 (2-0), Germany U-17 (2-0), Italy (0-2) and Turkey (0-2).
Group F: USA (2-0), Australia (1-1), Spain (1-1) and Croatia (1-1).
Now we'll take a look to what happened in the other games. Greece added its second win in a row after winning Argentina (66-50). Lynos Chrysikopoulos ('92), from Aris, led the europeans with 13 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals, while Marios Dermitzakis ('92) added 15 points and 2 rebounds.
Strange result for France. They started the tournament with two victories in a row but they lost against Croatia last Monday saying good bye to the semifinals chances. Today, another loss against Israel (68-64) even another show of Evan Fournier ('92). The guard finished with 26 points (13/15 ft) and 6 rebounds, but french couldn't do anything against a group led by Maccabi's guard Tomer Beraven ('92): 18 and 5 rebounds.
Finally Brazil crashed New Zealand (93-58) and Japan lost against China (76-101).
Standings of the other eight teams:
Group G: China (2-0), Brazil (2-0), Japan (0-2) and New Zeland (0-2).
Group H: Greece (2-0), Israel (1-1), France (1-1) and Argentina (0-2).
Photo: FIBA Europe / Tomas Tumalovicius
