Nikola Ivanovic ('94), in Topolica gym infront more than 2000 people, make montenegrin supporters dream with a great performance to lead his team against the unbeaten Spain, current gold medal. The Qualifying Round of the U-16 Division "A" European Championship held in Bar (Montenegro) ended yesterday with the montenegrin guard shining in a great level against spaniards (30 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists) and with the Quarter-finals battles already set: Croatia-Russia, Serbia-Turkey, Spain-France and Montenegro-Lithuania. Lithuanians made it after finishing with a 1-4 record in this round, adding their first win yesterday. In the bottom Denmark is close to the relegation to Division "B" after losing its three games of the Classification Round, while Germany is with a 3-0 record in the same group. What happened yesterday? Let's check it.

 

Qualifying Round

Group E:

-France 64 Croatia 63: Charly Maraux ('94) 14 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists; Dario Saric ('94) 19 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists.

-Lithuania 80 Italy 61: Marius Grigonis ('94) 16 points with 6/12 FG and 4 rebounds; Mirco Turel ('94) 13 points with 2/5 threes and 4 boards.

-Serbia 82 Greece 69: Nikola Jankovic ('94) 15 points with 6/11 twos and 6 rebounds; Kyprianos Maragkos ('94) 26 points with 11/21 FG and 8 boards.

 

Standings: Croatia (4-1), Serbia (4-1), France (4-1), Lithuania (1-4), Italy (1-4) and Greece (1-4).

 

Group F:

-Montenegro 68 Spain 63: Nikola Ivanovic ('94) 30 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists; Guillermo Hernangómez ('94) 16 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks.

-Turkey 89 Poland 60: Burak Haciismail ('94) 22 points with 10/11 twos and 9 boards; Jan Grzelinski ('94) 16 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists.

-Bulgaria 49 Russia 64: Denislav Vutev ('94) 12 points with 5/8 twos and 5 boards; Stanislav Ilnitskiy ('94) 18 points, 14 rebounds and 5 steals.

 

Standings: Montenegro (4-1), Spain (4-1), Turkey (3-2), Russia (2-3), Bulgaria (2-3) and Poland (0-5). 

 

Classification Round

Group G:

-Latvia 63 Israel 58: Oskars Reinfelds ('94) 15 points, 11 rebounds and 2 assists; Maxim Kikus ('94) 16 points with 2/5 threes and 2 rebounds. 

-Germany 68 Denmark 40: Paul Zipser ('94) 14 points with 2/3 threes and 4 boards; David Knudsen ('94) 10 points with 2/6 threes and 2 steals.

 

Standings: Germany (3-0), Latvia (2-1), Israel (1-2) and Denmark (0-3). 

 

Photo: FIBA Europe / Nebojsa Parausic