Will be Nikolaos Pappas ('90) the man of the U-20 European Championship? He is on the best way to get it after a couple of great performances leading Greece to the win both times. In the tournament held in Croatia greek squad started great, adding yesterday its second victory beating Ukraine (88-76) with the guard nailing 28 points with 5/12 threes and 5 rebounds. But he wasn't alone. Kostas Papanikolaou ('90) was perfect: 26 points with 5/5 from downtown and 7 boards. Kostas Sloukas ('90) also shined with 16 (11/11 FT) with 6 assists. Ukranians battled, but couldn't make it even Kyryl Natyazhko ('90), with 19 points and 9 rebounds, Denys Noskov ('90) with 17 and 3/3 threes and Maksym Sandul ('91) with a double-double (15 and 10 boards). In the other game of this group A Latvia crashed Czech Republic (84-53) with Martin Meiers ('91) scoring 21 points in 25 minutes, helped by Kristers Zeikas ('90) with another double-double (17 points and 12 boards). Martins Laksa ('90) added 17 and 6 rebounds. Sad news for czechs, losing their second game in a row by more than 20 points. Tomas Satoransky ('91), from Cajasol Sevilla (ACB), made many things , but not enough (15 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals).
Let's see what happened in group B, where Montenegro surprised Serbia (59-68) led by center Bojan Dubljevic ('91), who scored 22 points grabbing 7 rebounds and having 4 steals. Guard Petar Stojanovic ('90) also made a good job with 11 points and 5 boards. Bad result for serbians, who scored only 25 points in first half. Dejan Musli ('91) scored 13 points pulling down 7 boards and putting a couple of blocks. Aleksandar Mitrovic ('90), from Partizan, poured 12 with 2/4 threes and Nemanja Jaramaz ('91) nailed 11 with 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Lithuania lifts at the top as only unbeaten team in the group after the win over Turkey (85-69). Eimantas Bendzius ('90), their leader, scored 19 with 5/8 behind the arc. and 8 rebounds. Tautvydas Slezas ('90) collected a double-double ('90) with 11 points and 11 boards. Turkish are not in their best moment with this generation. Furkan Aldemir ('91) finished as their best scorer with 12 points and 9 boards, and Ilkan Karaman ('90) poured 10 points with 10 rebounds.
In group C Russia and France are 2-0 after two days. Russians struggled to beat Netherlands (79-71), but the great job of Vladimir Ivlev ('90) decided: 15 points, 13 rebounds and 2 steals. His teammate Grigory Andreev ('90) scored 17 but with bad percentages (4/14 FG). At the other side guard Charlon Kloof ('90) nailed 16 with 10/11 FT and Jessey Voorn ('90) added 14 with 3/6 threes. In the other game of the group france and Italy played a tied contest, with french adding their second win over Italy (61-58). Youngster Alessandro Gentile ('92) scored 22 with 3/6 threes and Roberto Rullo ('90) added 16 with 4 rebounds. But not enough. Chistophe Leonard ('90) and Paul Lacombe ('90) led the winners with 16 points each.
And the hosts? Croatia won again, in this case against Germany (68-54). Mario Delas ('90), from Zalgiris Kaunas, finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists. Sime Olivari ('90) added 14 and 7 boards. At german side guard Maurice Stuckey ('90) nailed 12 points but 5/14 FG, and Jonas Wolfarth-Bottermann ('90) scored also 12 in only 10 minutes. Finally Spain added its first win beating Slovenia (66-61). Josep Franch ('91), in the All-Tournament second team of the Adidas Eurocamp according to Eurohopes, led spaniards with 18 points and 3/6 threes, helped by Nacho Llovet ('91) with 14 and 5 boards. Both are from DKV Joventut. In the losing effort Blaz Mahkovic ('90) scored 14 with 3/6 threes and Mirza Sarajlija ('91) added 12 but 2/9 threes.
Standings:
-Group A: Greece (2-0), Ukraine (1-1), Latvia (1-1) and Czech Republic (0-2).
-Group B: Lithuania (2-0), Montenegro (1-1), Serbia (1-1) and Turkey (0-2).
-Group C: Russia (2-0), France (2-0), Italy (0-2) and Netherlands (0-2).
-Group D: Croatia (2-0), Germany (1-1), Spain (1-1) and Slovenia (0-2).
Photo: Igor Petrinovic / Kosarka.hr
