Two days, two wins. Belarus started strong the U-18 Division "B" European Championship of Tel-Aviv (Israel) with Vitali Liutych ('92) -top15 at Eurohopes'92- as their leader: best scorer (19.5) and best rebounder (9.0). The 1.96 guard led yesterday their second victory in front Romania (48-69) after a great third quarter (6-23). Liutych nailed 22 points (7/13 FG), pulling down 12 rebounds and dishing 1 assist. Eurohopes contacted him: "We are very glad after adding the two victories on this championship start. It gives us confidence before the third game against England. Our purpose on the tournament, as well as all other teams, is to reach as much as possible the best result and to promote to Division A". Against romanians, forward Yauheni Suhaniaka ('92) also collected a double-double (18 points and 14 boards). For Romania only one player arrived to the double-figures. Ovidiu Mogosanu ('92) scored 10 points but 3/13 FG. In the other game of the group England crashed Denmark (44-73) after the arrival yesterday of Devon Van Oostrum ('93). The guard of Caja Laboral, number 2 at Eurohopes'93, flirted with the triple-double: 6 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists. His teammate John Stewart ('93) finished as their best scorer: 15 with 7/14 FG. The best danish? Christian Benzon ('93) with 12 and 6/14 FG.
Group C: Belarus (2-0), England (1-1), Israel (1-0), Denmark (0-2) and Romania (0-1).
Let's check group A. Netherlands is at the top (2-0) after beating Switzerland (63-57) with Sam de Haas ('92) scoring 16 points but 6/18 FG. Beside him Benjamin Ime Jegen ('92) scored 10 grabbing 5 rebounds. Dutch won even they lost easy in the rebound battle (33 to 48). For swiss squad argentinian-borned guard Brian Savoy ('92) nailed 14 with 3/5 threes and Marko Mladjan ('93) added 9 points and 10 boards. In the other contest Slovak Republic lost against Finland (47-63) after shocking with Marcus Molenius ('92): 18 points with 4/8 threes. Beside him also shined 2.04 center Daniel Dolenc ('93) with a huge double-double: 12 points, 18 rebounds and 2 blocks. At slovakian side Marian Kysela ('92) scored 13 with 6/7 FG and Viktor Timko ('92) added 10 with 6 boards.
Group A: Netherlands (2-0), Finland (1-1), Czech Republic (1-0), Switzerland (0-2) and Slovak Republic (0-1).
In group B Belgium also started strong (2-0) after smashing Portugal yesterday (44-81) in a great game of Arne Steinbach ('92), with 16 points and 2/5 threes. Belgium Amaury Gorgemans ('92) also helped with 11 in 18 minutes. Portuguese Rafael Wildner ('92), their best man: 7 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks. Nothing to do for them. In the other game of the group Bosnia and Herzegovina added its first win against Scotland (67-83) with an amazing performance of slovenian-borned Mirza Bulic ('92): 27 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocks. Beside him Ernad Mujic ('92) added 18 with 7 rebounds. At scottish side guard Lee Reilly ('92) poured 18 points with 2/5 threes and Alasdair Fraser ('92) added 16 with 9 boards.
Group B: Belgium (2-0), Bosnia and Herzegovina (1-1), Portugal (1-1), Scotland (0-1) and Hungary (0-1).
Finally in group D Montenegro keeps its strong start: 36-98 against Luxembourg. Crazy difference. Alex Laurent ('93) was by far the best at the losing effort: 17 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks. For montenegrins guard Amin Hot ('92) scored 16 with a perfect 6/6 FG and Luka Radovic ('92) didn't waste his time either: 15 points and 13 rebounds in only 21'. In the other game of the group Estonia crashed Austria by 30 points (57-87). Guard Rannar Raap ('92) nailed 25 with 10/15 FG and forward Janari Jöesaar ('93) made a double-double (12 points, 15 rebounds and 3 assists). Too much for austrians, where Carlos Novas ('92), borned in Santo Domingo, battled with 21 points and 4 rebounds. His teammate Ferdinand Saukel ('92) scored 11 points pulling down 8 rebounds.
Group D: Montenegro (2-0), Estonia (2-0), Austria (0-2), Georgia (0-1) and Luxembourg (0-1).
Photo: SportoweFakty.pl
