Good news coming from Hamburg (Germany), where the U-17 World Championship is held. With only one game remaining in this first round the five european teams have options to make it to the quarter-finals even today some of them lost (Germany, Serbia and Spain). The team that is more in troubles is Spain. They need to beat Australia tomorrow. Egypt, Argentina and Korea, with no options. Let's check what happened in both groups.  

 

Group A

-Serbia 71 Lithuania 74: The great job of Luka Mitrovic ('93) -at the pic- wasn't enough for serbians, even he finished with 19 points (9/9 FG), 5 rebounds and 3 steals. Nemanja Bezbradica ('93) added 13 points and 7 boards, but rising-star Nenad Miljenovic ('93) struggled with 10 points and 3/11 FG. For winners Mantas Mockevicius ('93) finished as their best scorer with 18 points and 6/11 FG, while Rokas Narkevicius ('93) poured 11 points with 3/8 threes. Both teams will play the quarterfinals.   

-China 76 Argentina 64

-Egypt 64 USA 132

Standings: USA (4-0), Lithuania (3-1), Serbia (2-2), China (2-2), Argentina (1-3) and Egypt (0-4).

 

Group B

-Poland 88 Spain 82: team coached by Diego Ocampo lost in the overtime even Jaime Fernández ('93), who flirted with the triple-double (24 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists). Álex Suárez ('93) played also his best contest in Hamburg, but not enough: 15 points with 3/7 from downtown. Who shined for polish? Mateusz Ponitka ('93), the best scorer of the tournament, nailed 26 with 9/13 FG and Przemek Karnowski ('93) added a great double-double: 20 points (7/9 FG), 12 boards and 1 block.

-Australia 62 Germany 58: surprising result even Jakob Krumbeck ('93). The guard scored 17 points with 6/12 FG. Besnik Bekteshi ('93) added 10 with 3/8 behind the arc. The 15 points difference at half time, enough.

-Canada 95 Korea 74

Standings: Poland (4-0), Canada (3-1), Australia (2-2), Germany (2-2), Spain (1-3) and Korea (0-4).

 

Photo: FIBA.COM