China, an unknown team for most of the fans and scouts, surprised everybody earning the title of the U-16 Türk Telekom Tournament, held in Gaziantep (Turkey). With 2.15 center Qi Zhou ('96) as their star the asiatic squad beat hosts in the big final after a tied contest (67-66). Zhou flirted with the triple-double with another amazing show without resting a second: 30 points (9/13 twos and 12/15 ft), 17 rebounds and 8 blocks (even 7 turnovers). Turkish battled recovering a 13 points deficit at the beginning of last period with Dogukan Sanli ('95), from Besiktas, as their leader. The guard scored 19 points (9/19 FG), pulling down 4 rebounds and making 4 steals. Beside him also shined Cedi Osman ('95) with 12 points (3/8 threes) and 4 assists, while Kenan Sipahi ('95) and James Metecan Birsen ('95) struggled. Guard nailed 6 points (but 2/12 FG), with 6 steals and 5 assists. Forward scored 5 with 2 rebounds and 2 blocks. Hosts had problems to score (31% on twos) against big chinese (watch highlights).
In the game for the final third spot Germany beat France (53-51) behind a double-double from Maximilian Ugrai ('95): 10 points, 11 rebounds and 2 assists. Guard Janis Stielow ('95) tallied 10 with 8 boards and 2 steals. Even germans started bad (9-21) they recovered winning a team with only one player in double-figures. Charly Pontens ('95) scored 10 (4/8 FG) in only 20 minutes (watch highlights).
Slovenian ended as the fifth best team after beating Russia (79-93) with a great job of Matic Rebec ('95), with 25 points and 4 rebounds, and Luka Kokol ('95), with 24 and 5 steals. Slovenians used the advantage of the first half (+19) to grab the victory. For russians their best player shined again. Viacheslav Fedorchenko ('95) scored 27 points (10/19 FG) with 6 rebounds (watch highlights).
Ukraine finished seventh with a final win against Bulgaria (69-81) even another show coming from Aleksandar Vezenkov ('95): 23 points (6/13 FG), 10 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals. His teammate Anguel Dinkov ('95) added 13 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals. Ukranians, who won the rebound battle (49-37), had in Yevgeniy Sakhnyuk ('95) as their best player with 17 points, 17 rebounds and 2 steals. Danylo Isakov ('95) added 17 with 2/5 threes and Igor Bespalyuk ('95) 14 with 8 boards and 6 assists.
Puerto Rico was ninth after beating Romania (59-51), even the job of Vlad Popovici ('94), at least one year older than all the players (24 points with 7/13 FG and 20 rebounds). His teammate Vlad Cobzaru ('95) added 9 points, 9 rebounds and 2 steals.
Finally Georgia won its first game, in this case against Iran (80-66), with the asiatic team becoming the worst squad in Gaziantep. Sandro Bolkvadze ('95) led the win with 26 points (6/12 from downtown), 8 rebounds and 4 assists. Zezva Liluashvili ('95) added 17 with 6/13 FG and 4 steals.
Final standings: 1-China, 2-Turkey, 3-Germany, 4-France, 5-Slovenia, 6-Russia, 7-Ukraine, 8-Bulgaria, 9-Puerto Rico, 10-Romania, 11-Georgia and 12-Iran.
Photo: Official Tournament Website
