Alessandro Gentile ('92) keeps showing his potential every day, but Russia stopped Italy in the third day of the U-18 Division "A" European Championship held in Vilnius (Lithuania) even the 42 points (8/11 threes), 7 rebounds and 7 assists of the guard from Benetton Treviso. The other two names of the journey are Lithuania and Latvia, the two only unbeaten teams with a 3-0 record. Let's check what happened in all the games.
In group A Lithuania added its third win beating Slovenia after a great first half (+18). Center Jonas Valanciunas ('92) led the winners with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 2 assists in 26 minutes. Guard Deividas Pukis ('92), who is playing a good tournament, added 18 points with 3/7 from downtown. For Slovenia 2.13 center Alen Omic ('92), borned in Bosnia and Herzegovina, scored 22 with 10/16 FG, and guard Klemen Prepelic ('92) nailed 12 with 5 boards. In the other contest Poland beat Ukraine (76-67) kicking them out and making them play the Classification Round to avoid the relegation to Division "B". Przemek Karnowski ('93) shined again with 15 points and 8 rebounds, helped by Mateusz Ponitka ('93): 15 with 5/10 threes. Both, silver medal on the U-17 World Championship of Hamburg. For Ukraine Vyacheslav Motorchuk ('92) scored 15 with 8 rebounds and 2.10 center Olexiy Len ('93) added a double-double (13+11).
Group A: Lithuania (3-0), Poland (2-1), Slovenia (1-2) and Ukraine (0-3).
In group B Latvia surprised Spain (75-70) becoming the other unbeaten team with Lithuania after three games. Edmunds Dukulis ('92) and Davis Bertans ('92) were the best scorers of winners, with 17 points each (10 rebounds for Dukulis and 4/13 threes for Bertans). Latvians started very hard (+15 in first quarter), showing his credentials. For spaniards Alex Barrera ('92), like first day, finished again as their best scorer with 14 points and 7 rebounds, while Joan Tomàs ('92) added 11 but 4/13 FG. In the other game of the group Sweden was sent to the Classification Round after losing against France (57-42) shocking with 2.12 center Rudy Gobert ('92): 14 points, 16 boards and 3 blocks. Mathis Keita ('92) also made a good job with 11 points and 4 boards. Only one swedish scored in double-figures. Jonathan Person ('93) nailed 12 pulling down 6 rebounds.
Group B: Latvia (3-0), Spain (2-1), France (1-2) and Sweden (0-3).
In group C, as we told before, Alessandro Gentile ('92) wasn't enough for Italy to beat Russia (86-87) even he finished with 42 points (5/10 twos, 8/11 threes and 8/8 FT), 7 rebounds and 7 assists. His teammate Giorgio Sgobba ('92) poured 14 with 8 rebounds. But russians won with the youngsters being an important factor. Vladislav Trushkin ('93) scored 19 points with 5/11 threes and Alexander Varnakov ('92), 15 with 6 assists. In the other contest Bulgaria will play the Classification Round after losing against Turkey (66-52). Big game of U-16 forward Burak Yildizli ('94), number 3 of Eurohopes'94, with 23 points, 9 rebounds and 1 block, leading the victory. Beside him Muhammed Baygül ('92) scored 11 with 3/5 threes. For Bulgaria guard Planimir Dafinov ('92) poured 14 with 6 rebounds and Pavlin Ivanov ('93), from Benetton Treviso, added 11 and 5 boards.
Group C: Italy (2-1), Russia (2-1), Turkey (2-1) and Bulgaria (0-3).
In group D Serbia, the current champion, clinched the first position after winning Germany (68-61), that was sent to the Classification Round. Wasn't enough the big performance of Patrick Heckmann ('92), second best scorer of the tournament (18.0), with 27 points (12/20 FG), 5 rebounds and 4 steals, the only player of his team scoring more than eight points. Germans scored 3/21 from behind the arc. Too much. At serbian side Bogdan Bogdanovic ('92) finished as their best scorer with 15 points and 4/9 threes, while Vukasin Petkovic ('92) nailed 14 with 3 boards. In the other game of the group Greece lost its first game against Croatia (61-73). Guard Roko Rogic ('92) led the winners with 17 points and 5/7 threes and Stefan Zadravec ('92) helped with 12 and 6 boards. The best greeks? Anastasios Antonakis ('92) scored 15 with 5 rebounds and Georgios Mavrogiannis ('92) nailed also 15 with 2/3 threes. Linos Chrysikopoulos ('92), their star, struggled: 10 points but 5/19 FG.
Group D: Serbia (2-1), Croatia (2-1), Greece (2-1) and Germany (0-3).
Photo: FIBA Europe / Robertas Dackus
