Sweden and Austria will play next season in the Division "A" after reeaching today the final of the U-20 Division "B" European Championship, held in Austria. Both teams won today their semifinals battles, against Poland (79-69) and Bulgaria (76-71). Andreas Person ('91) -at the pic- and Rasid Mahalbasic ('90) were the keys of the wins. But let's check what happened today in all the games.
Sweden took the first spot after winning polish squad with a great performance of guard Andreas Person ('91), the best scorer of the journey with 27 points (11/19 FG) and 5 steals. Christopher Ryan ('90) also made a very complete contest with 18 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. Piotr Pamula ('90), their best scorer in Austria, struggled for Poland (8 points with 3/13 FG), where appeared Aleksander Czyz ('90) with 24 points and 13 boards, and 7-feet Jakub Wojciechowski ('90), from Benetton Treviso, collected another double-double (10+10). In the other semifinal the hosts beat Bulgaria with Rasid Mahalbasic ('90) pouring 17 points and pulling down 12 boards and Romed Vieider ('91) being their best scorer (20 with 4/7 threes) in his best game of the tournament.
In the battle between the 5th and 8th final position Israel beat Belgium (100-93) with four players of team coached by Yakov Gino scoring 20 or more points: Omer Rub ('90) 25 points with 3/3 threes, Yotam Shiran ('90) 24 with 2/3 from downtown, Jacob Cohen ('90) 21 and 10 boards and Tal Karpelesz ('90) 20 with 8/12 FG. At the other side guard Quentin Serron ('90) nailed 21 points with 3/3 threes and Thomas De Thaey ('91) added 18 with 6 rebounds. About the fight between Great Britain and Portugal finally brits won easy (91-66). For squad coached by Tim Lewis their best scorer was Alex Marcotullio ('91) with 17 points and 3/7 threes, while William Neighbour ('90) helped with 15 and 6 boards. For Portugal Diogo Correia ('90) scored 13 -even 1/9 threes- and Tiago Raimundo ('90) added 11 with 5/9 FG.
What happened in the battle between the 9th and 12th final spots? Finland smashed Slovak Republic (89-61), winning by 17 points already in the half-time. Matti Nuutinen ('90) poured 22 points with 4/6 behind the arc and Antto Nikkarinen ('91) scored 17 with 10/10 FT for finish side. Tomas Mrvis ('91) wasn't enough with his 23 points and 5 rebounds, while Marek Jass ('90) nailed 10 with 5 rebounds. In the other contest Norway beat Hungary (73-66) even the great performance of one of the best players in the championship: Janos Ellingsfeld ('91). The power-forward had 23 points and 13 boards, while his teammate Ferdinand Morgen ('90) added 15 and 8 boards. But nothing to do. Guard Stian Berg ('91) scored 20 with 4/5 threes and Aksel Bolin ('90) helped with 19 and 9 rebounds for norwegians.
In the Classification Round Georgia is already 3-0 due to today's win over Romania (97-70). Beqa Chikviladze ('91) had 15 points with 5 rebounds and 5 assists to lead the victory, while Akaki Dvalishvili ('91) scored also 15 with 7 boards. Amazing percentage of twos at georgian side (78%), one of the keys. For romanians, Adrian Gutoala ('90) scored 22 with 4/6 threes and Bogdan Tibirna ('91) nailed 15 with 6/15 FG. In the other game Belarus lost against Switzerland (62-73) shocking against Christophe Varidel ('90): 24 with 5/9 from downtown. His teammate Roman Albrecht ('90) added 16 points and 9 boards. For Belarus Viktar Ausepian ('91) finished as their best scorer with 13 points and 8 rebounds, while Valiantsin Ihnatchyk ('91) had 12 with 3 boards.
Standings Classification Round: Georgia (3-0), Romania (2-2), Denmark (2-1), Belarus (1-3) and Switzerland (1-3).
Photo: FIBA Europe / Angelika Novak Pictorial
