The preliminary round of the U-18 Division "B" European Championship, held in Tel Aviv, has already given us the eight best teams of the competition. These squads will start to fight today for a spot in the semifinals. Who are they? Belgium, Finland, Czech Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Israel, England and Estonia. The first round finished with small-forward Vitali Liutych ('92), from Belarus, as the best scorer with 20.5 points. But wasn't enough to make it because England and Israel were in the same group. Other prospects who shined in the stats recap were 2.15 center Ondrej Balvin ('92, Czech Republic) as the best rebounder (13.0) and blocker (3.8), Bar Timor ('92, Israel) as the best passer (6.8) and Guy Lavie ('92, Israel) as the best stealer. Let's check what happened in the last two days of the preliminary round.
Group A
-Finland 71 Switzerland 66: Villematti Kopio ('92) 23 points with 9/17 FG and 1 assist; Jeffrey Schwab ('92) 17 points with 5/10 FG and 2 rebounds.
-Slovak Republic 46 Czech Republic 88: Boris Bojanovsky ('93) 17 points with 7/9 FG and 6 boards; Martin Kriz ('93) 18 points, 12 rebounds and 5 steals.
-Netherlands 45 Slovak Republic 47: Benjamin Ime Jegen ('92) 15 points with 6/9 FG and 8 rebounds; Viktor Timko ('92) 12 points with 4/7 FG and 5 rebounds.
-Czech Republic 55 Finland 65: Michal Sotnar ('92) 14 points with 5/12 FG and 2 assists; Villematti Kopio ('92) 18 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds.
Standings: Finland (3-1), Czech Republic (3-1), Netherlands (2-2), Switzerland (1-3) and Slovak Republic (1-3).
Group B
-Bosnia and Herzegovina 50 Belgium 66: Ernad Mujic ('92) 17 points with 7/12 FG and 5 rebounds; Harm Loontiens ('92) 16 points with 6/11 FG and 4 rebounds.
-Scotland 46 Hungary 38: Alasdair Fraser ('92) 16 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals; Bence Delity ('92) 8 points, 6 rebounds and 1 assist.
-Portugal 58 Scotland 71: Miguel Cardoso ('93) 25 points with 10/21 FG and 6 assists; Alasdair Fraser ('92) 29 points with 11/16 FG and 11 rebounds.
-Hungary 59 Bosnia and Herzegovina 61: Bence Narai ('92) 12 points with 4/4 threes and 3 steals; Mirza Bulic ('92) 21 points with 4/6 threes and 6 steals.
Standings: Belgium (4-0), Bosnia and Herzegovina (2-2), Scotland (2-2), Hungary (1-3) and Portugal (1-3).
Group C
-Belarus 68 England 70: Vitali Liutych ('92) 27 points with 13/22 FG and 7 rebounds; Devon Van Oostrum ('93) 23 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists.
-Romania 52 Israel 80: Aurelian Toth ('92) 15 points, 16 rebounds and 2 steals; Noam Laish ('93) 15 points with 5/7 threes in 14 minutes.
-Denmark 80 Romania 72: Kevin Larsen ('93) 22 points, 14 rebounds and 4 assists; Aurelian Toth ('92) 17 points, 9 rebounds and 6 blocks.
-Israel 95 Belarus 76: Guy Lavie ('92) 31 points with 12/18 FG and 6 steals, Vitali Liutych ('92) 16 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals.
Standings: Israel (4-0), England (3-1), Belarus (2-2), Denmark (1-3) and Romania (0-4).
Group D
-Luxembourg 72 Georgia 68: Ben Melcher ('92) 27 points with 10/14 FG and 3 rebounds; Duda Sanadze ('92) 24 points with 10/21 FG and 7 rebounds.
-Montenegro 103 Estonia 54: Radosav Spasojevic ('92) 24 points with 4/9 threes and 4 rebounds; Janari Joesaar ('93) 12 points with 4/5 FG and 4 rebounds.
-Austria 74 Luxembourg 66: Daniel Friedrich ('92) 19 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists; Alex Laurent ('93) 15 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.
-Georgia 60 Montenegro 68: Nodar Tanieshvili ('92) 15 points with 5/8 FG and 3 rebounds; Radosav Spasojevic ('92) 21 points with 8/17 FG and 11 rebounds.
Standings: Montenegro (4-0), Estonia (3-1), Austria (2-2), Luxembourg (1-3) and Georgia (0-4).
Photo: Eurohopes (Noam Laish, from Israel, against Vitali Liutych, from Belarus)
