Jonas Valanciunas ('92) & Co. didn't give any chance to Russia and they crashed them by 29 points in the final of the U-18 Division "A" European Championship played these days in Vilnius. Lithuanians earned again the gold medal after many years withouth winning it. It was in 1994, in Tel Aviv, beating Croatia in the big final with Sarunas Jasikevicius in the roster. Yesterday, against russians, Valanciunas made again a great performance with 31 points (12/15 twos and 7/11 FT), 18 rebounds and 1 block. Beside him also shined Deividas Pukis ('92), with 21 points and 5/10 threes, and Renaldas Simanavicius ('92), with 12 and 2/3 from downtown. Baltic team was already winning 28-9 in the first quarter. At russian side Sergey Karasev ('93) finished with 15 and 6/12 FG and Vlad Trushkin ('93) with 13, even 0/7 threes. Valanciunas earned the Tournament MVP trophy, while the rest of players of the All-Tournament team have been russian Dmitry Kulagin ('92), lithuanian Deividas Pukis ('92), serbian Nikola Siladi ('92) and latvian Davis Bertans ('92).
Who won the bronze medal? Latvia smashed Serbia (49-75) after a great second half (21-45). Bertans led the win with 24 points with 6/9 threes and 8 rebounds, while Kaspars Vecvagars ('93) added 13 with 4 assists. At serbian side the best scorer was Bogdan Bogdanovic ('92) with 12 points and pulling down 6 boards.
Croatia finished fifth after winning Poland, with both teams already qualifyied for the U-19 World Championship of next summer in Latvia (77-92). Guard Toni Katic ('92) nailed 20 points, with 7 rebounds and 6 assists, while youngster Dario Saric ('94) added 13 with 9 boards and 2 assists. For Poland Tomasz Gielo ('93) scored 15, pulling down 6 rebounds and dishing 3 assists, and Grzegorz Grochowski ('93) nailed 13 with 5 steals in his best game in Vilnius.
France finished seventh in the championship after beating Greece in a tied contest (75-77). Greek star Linos Chrysikopoulos ('92) wasn't enough even he completed a great game with 26 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists. His teammate Spyridon Motsenigos ('92) scored 17 with 3/5 threes. Who led France? Hugo Invernizzi ('93) nailed 17 with 5/11 threes and 2.12 center Rudy Gobert ('92) added a double-double (14+12 in 23').
In the Classification Round Sweden lost the category after losing against Ukraine (73-79) shocking with Olexiy Len ('93): 24 points, 20 rebounds, 4 blocks and 4 steals. Jonathan Person ('93), the best at the losing effort side with 24, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Finally, in the same group, Germany beat Bulgaria (72-67) with Patrick Heckmann ('92) having 13 points, 7 assists, 5 steals and 4 rebounds. Tencho Tenchev ('93), the best bulgarian: 23 points with 5/11 from downtown. Bulgaria and Sweden will play in Division "B" next summer.
Final standings: 1-Lithuania, 2-Russia, 3-Latvia, 4-Serbia, 5-Croatia, 6-Poland, 7-France, 8-Greece, 9-Turkey, 10-Sovenia, 11-Spain, 12-Italy, 13-Germany, 14-Ukraine, 15-Sweden and 16-Bulgaria.
Photo: FIBA Europe / Robertas Dackus
