Eurohopes staff watched on live one of the best individual performances of last years in youth tournaments. It was in Belgrade (Serbia), in the final of the Nike International Junior Tournament of the Euroleague held in the balcanic capital. Guard Aleksandar Cvetkovic ('93) collected a 55 ranking to led Red Star to the victory over FMP, where Nenad Miljenovic ('93) ended with another crazy show (39 ranking). Red Star qualifyied for the Barcelona final round after winning 93-102. The All-Tournament Team was for these two guards plus Luka Rupnik ('93, Olimpija), Livio Jean-Charles ('93, INSEP) and Stefan Popovski-Turanjanin ('93, FMP). Let's check what happened yesterday.
-USK Future Stars 75 Olimpija Ljubljana 77: Czech team finished last in the standings after losing against slovenians in the game for the 7th and 8th final positions. In a tied contest guard Luka Rupnik ('93), member of the All-Tournament Team, didn't rest during all the 40 minutes to lift Olimpija to the win behind a 35 ranking: 27 points (10/20 FG), 9 rebounds, 7 assists and 7 steals (even 5 turnovers). Also important was Ziga Dimec ('93) inside the paint, with 16 points and 7/7 FG, hurting a lot a team without big players inside. Forward Martin Kriz ('93) finished as the best czech with 22 points (7/15 FG), 8 rebounds and 3 assists, while Dalibor Fait ('93) added a double-double with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 4 steals. Tomas Kyzlink ('93), who has made a great tournament, scored 13, pulling down 8 boards and dishing 4 assists. Czechs played with four men over 30 minutes, while slovenians struggled from downtown (2/18) with Dorde Micic ('93) playing his worst game: 2 points with 1/6 in 22 minutes.
-Beovuk 71 Alba Berlin 86: Germans ended fifth after their second triumph in a row (they lost the three first games) with a great performance of youngster Kalidou Diouf ('94). The inside player, who scored also a couple of threes, tailled 20 points (9/14) with 8 rebounds and 2 blocks in 27 minutes. Beside him guard David Herwig ('93) posted 16 points with 8/10 FG and youngster Kenneth Ogbe ('94) added 15 and 2 assists. For serbians Marko Babic ('93) made a good job (23 with 7/8 FG), while Lazar Jeremic ('93) had 17 with 5 rebounds and 4 steals. Germans started strong (11-23) and finished also good in the last period (20-27), wth a 58% in 2 points shots.
-INSEP 87 Partizan 75: French recovered from the crazy loss against FMP beating serbians and finishing third in the tournament. Mouhammadou Jaiteh ('94) continued his every-day progression becoming an important piece in the win with 13 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks in only 22 minutes. Shooter Hugo Invernizzi ('93) -3 point contest winner- scored 16 points with 3/6 at 3 points line and William Howard ('93) poured 19 making many things. Serbians suffered injuries from Vukasin Vujovic ('93) and Nikola Majic ('94), so Dusan Bogdanovic ('93) appeared with 21 points (9/12 twos), 6 boards and 3 assists. With only 8 turnovers french squad showed their credentials.
-FMP 93 Red Star 102: One of the best prospect games of last years. Nenad Miljenovic ('93), from FMP, and Aleksandar Cvetkovic ('93), from Red Star, staged a crazy show. Miljenovic ended with 29 points (10/16 FG and 8/11 FT), 7 assists and 4 rebounds for a 39 ranking, but not enough against the MVP Cvetkovic: 35 points (12/19 FG and 9/9 FT9, 9 boards and 8 assists (13 fouls drawn) for a 55 valoration. No comment. With a packed gym the people who attended the game won't forget it. Both prospects played in top-level. But Miljenovic and Cvetkovic weren't alone. Stefan Popovski-Turanjanin ('93), also All-Tournament Team, scored 21 points and pulled down 9 rebounds for FMP, while center Nemanja Bezbradica ('93) added 15 with 5 boards and Nikola Pavlovic ('93) 11 and 8 rebounds. For Red Star also shined Ivan Marinkovic ('93), with 23 and 11/16 twos, Marko Radonjic ('93), with 11 and 2/4 from downtown, and youngster Nikola Cvorovic ('94), with 10 and 8 boards. With Red Star players knowing their roles and FMP without using its superiority in some positions (Bezbradica should hurt more) the games decanted to Cvetkovic & Co. FMP tried to player with a smaller team to change the course, but they couldn't. Watch the last seconds and the celebrations here.
Final standings: 1-Red Star, 2-FMP, 3-INSEP, 4-Partizan, 5-Alba Berlin, 6-Beovuk, 7-Olimpija and 8-USK Future Stars.
Three-points contest: Hugo Invernizzi ('93), from INSEP.
Dunk contest: Yannis Morin ('93), from INSEP.
All-Tournament Team: MVP Aleksandar Cvetkovic ('93) from Red Star, Nenad Miljenovic ('93) and Stefan Popovski-Turanjanin ('93) from FMP, Luka Rupnik ('93) from Olimpija Ljubljana and Livio Jean-Charles ('93) from INSEP.
Photo: Eurohopes
