The first round of the U-20 Division "A" European Championship, held in Croatia, is alrealy finished with only two teams unbeaten: France and Greece. Yesterday Spain surprised hosts (59-64) with squad coached by Juan Antonio Orenga led by the two players of DKV Joventut. Nacho Llovet ('90) nailed 17 points with 8/11 FG and Josep Franch ('91) scored 15 with 2/5 behind the arc. Spaniards decided with a great third quarter (11-23) and stopping the main weapons of Croatia. Only Mario Delas ('90) made double-figures with 10 points and 8 boards, while Josip Bilinovac ('90) added 9 with 2/3 threes. In the other game of group D Germany was kicked off after losing against Slovenia (54-75). The good job of Maurice Stuckey ('90) wasn't enough for them: 13 points, 5 rebounds and 5 steals. Dino Muric ('90) became the main key of the win with 25 points and 9/13 FG, while Uros Zadnik ('90) completed a good contest with 12 points, 5 boards and 5 assists.
Let's check group A. Greece added its third win in three games after crashing Latvia (82-53). Nikolaos Pappas ('90), the best tournament's scorer after this first round, nailed 19 points with 6/14 FG. 2.10 center Ziris Sarikopoulos ('90) collected a double-double (14 points and 11 boards) and Kostas Sloukas ('90), from Olympiakos, poured 11 without missing any shot. For latvians power-forward Kristers Zeidaks ('90) scored 19 with 3/3 threes in only 21 minutes. Sad news for Czech Republic, loosing its third game. Czechs were stopped by Ukraine (85-75), they were kicked-off and they will try to avoid the relegation to Division "B", where they played last season. Oleksandr Lypovyy ('91) led the winners with 22 points and 4/6 threes. Beside him Ruslan Otverchenko ('90) added 20 with 4/9 from downtown. Who shined for czechs? Ondrej Peterka ('91), their best scorer with 23 points and 3/6 threes and Tomas Satoransky ('91) made a complete contest: 16 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists.
In group B Turkey was knocked out and with a 0-3 record they will need to fight to avoid the relegation. Yesterday they lost in a tied game against Montenegro (61-63) even Melih Mahmutoglu ('90) -16 with 6/8 FG-, Birkan Batuk ('90) -12 and 7 boards- and Ilkan Karaman ('90), with a double-double (11 points and 10 rebounds). For montenegrin squad Milutin Dukanovic ('91) nailed 17 with a perfect shooting-card (5/5 FG and 4/4 FT) and Vladimir Mihailovic ('90) added 12 points with 6/10 FG. In the other game of the group Serbia recovered from the defeat against Montenegro beating Lithuania (69-80) and finishing first. Dejan Musli ('91) finished as their best scorer with 20 points (9/14 FG) and 6 rebounds, helped by to players with a double-double: Andrija Milutinovic ('90) scored 15 with 10 rebounds and Nemanja Nedovic ('91) poured 13 with 10 assists. For lithuanian side Eimantas Bendzius ('90) shined once more with 17 and 3/5 threes and power-forward Adomas Drungilas ('90) added 16 with 7/8 twos.
Finally in group C France finished unbeaten and Netherlands will fight to avoid the relegation after winning the Division "B" title last summer in Skopje (Macedonia). French beat Russia (60-59) even Vladimir Ivlev ('90) had the last shot in his hands. The forward scored 17 pulling down 8 boards, while Grigory Andreev ('90) nailed 18 with 3/7 threes. But not enough. Ferdinand Prenom ('91) led the winners with 11 points and 8 rebounds in only 18', Andrew Albicy ('90) scored 10 with 7 assists and Christophe Leonard ('90) -at the pic- added 10 and 6 boards. In the other game Italy beat dutchmen (77-65) with youngster Alessandro Gentile ('92) showing why he is the second best scorer of the championship: 25 points and 8 boards. Roberto Rullo ('90), also from Benetton Treviso youth teams, nailed 12 with 3/7 threes. For Netherlands Mohammed Kherrazi ('90) poured 18 points with 9 rebounds and 2.11 center Craig Osaikhwuwuomwam ('90) finished with a double-double (13 points and 13 rebounds).
Standings:
-Group A: Greece (3-0), Ukraine (2-1), Latvia (1-2) and Czech Republic (0-3).
-Group B: Serbia (2-1), Montenegro (2-1), Lithuania (2-1) and Turkey (0-3).
-Group C: France (3-0), Russia (2-1), Italy (1-2) and Netherlands (0-3).
-Group D: Spain (2-1), Croatia (2-1), Slovenia (1-2) and Germany (1-2).
Photo: FIBA Europe / Ciamillo-Castoria / Marchi
