Last summer, in Rhodes, Greece won the U-20 European Championship with a young generation. One year ago (2008) the same kids took the gold medal of the U-18 EC beating Lithuania in the final. Now, this group has another chance to touch the glory. It will be tough because the championship is in Croatia and the hosts are really motivated, but they already started very strong in the U-20 EC that started yesterday. Team coached by Konstantinos Missas crashed Czech Republic (67-92) in the opener, showing their credentials with Nikolaos Pappas ('90) -at the pic- feeling good with 26 points (8/14 FG), 6 rebounds and 1 steal. But he was not alone. Kostas Sloukas ('90) shined with 16 and 6/8 FG, while Kostas Papanikolaou ('90) flirted with the triple-double (14 points, 10 boards and 6 assists). Great result infront czechs, even the good job of David Jelinek ('90) -17 with 4/6 threes- and Tomas Satoransky ('91) -10 points, 5 assists and 4 boards-, both playing in Spain. In the same group A Ukraine beat Latvia easy (91-70) with the other great individual performance of the day. Oleksandr Lypovyy ('91) led the winners with 28 points and 6/9 from downtown, helped by Ruslan Otverchenko ('90) with 21 and 5/10 threes and Kyryl Natyazhko ('90) with 18 and 5/9 FG. Great start of team coached by Volodymyr Polyakh over latvians, where shined Martins Meiers ('91) and Oto Osenieks ('90), both with 15 points and 5 boards.
Let's check what happened in group B. Turkey showed that they are not in the best moment (as they showed in preparation games) losing easy against Serbia (67-82). With many players who won the gold last summer in the U-18 EC, serbians add their first win with Branislav Djekic ('91), from Partizan, scoring 20 points with 6/7 threes and Andrija Milutinovic ('90) adding 15 with 6/10 FG. Solid game also of Dejan Musli ('91), with a double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks). At turkish side Melih Mahmutoglu ('90) finished as the best scorer (12 and 4 rebounds), while Ibrahim Yildirim ('90) poured 11 with 4/13 FG. In the other game of the group Lithuania beat Montenegro (63-72). Eimantas Bendzius ('90) and Adomas Drungilas ('90) scored 15 points each for winners. For Montenegro, who travelled without their star Nikola Vucevic ('90), Vladimir Mihailovic ('90) scored 20 with 7/16 FG and Nikola Ljujic ('91) nailed 14 with 7 boards.
About group C... Russia started with a victory against Italy (68-73). Vladimir Ivlev ('90) made a great double-double (18 points and 13 boards), leading team coached by Boris Livanov. At his side also shined Fedor Klyuchnikov ('90) with 11 and 3/7 behind the arc. Giacomo Sanguinetti ('90) wasn't enough even he scored 16 points with 4/7 threes, while Daniele Sandri ('90), grown in Treviso, added 13 with 7 boards. Between Alessandro Gentile ('92) and Roberto Rullo ('90) collected a 0/12 at three points line. The other winners in this first day at this group were french squad, after beating Netherlands (last season, champions of the division "B") by 12 points (54-66). Point-guard Andrew Albicy ('90) led the winners with 15 points and 2/3 threes and Lens Aboudou ('90) added 10 and 4 boards in only 21 minutes. Who shined for dutchmen? Jessey Voorn ('90) nailed 17 with 7/14 FG and Mohammed Kherrazi ('90) scored 11 pulling down 9 rebounds.
Finally let's see what happened in the group were locals play. Croatia started well winning Slovenia (65-72) in a great last quarter (10-20). Mario Delas ('90), from Zalgiris, collected a double-double (13 points, 10 boards and 3 blocks) and Ivan Ramljak ('90) added also 13 with 5/8 FG. Leon Radosevic ('90), the best croatian in the preparation games, poured 12 points grabbing 7 rebounds. For slovenians Luka Dimec ('90) scored 15 with 8 rebounds and Marko Vranjkovic ('90) added 14 with 4/5 from downtown. Germany beat again Spain (like happened days ago in the U-17 WC), in this case with a buzzer-beater behind the arc (63-61). Simon Schmitz ('90) scored that basket, finishing with 18 points and 3/8 threes. Beside him Akeem Vargas ('90) also made a good job: 16 with 6/14 FG. For spaniards, with montenegrin-borned Nikola Mirotic ('91) injured, Nacho Llovet ('91) showed why he has been their best player in the friendly games, collecting a double-double (17 points, 11 rebounds and 1 block). Álvaro Muñoz ('90), who played in LEB Silver last season, scored 13 pulling down 4 rebounds.
Photo: Igor Petrinovic / Kosarka.hr
