After a long trip by train we arrived to Bellegarde sur-Valserine, a small french town close to the swiss border where every year four top-level national teams compete in a U-16 tournament. After finding the hotel and leave the lugagge there we reached the Salle Omnisport Marcel Berthet to attend the opener, an interesting contest between Turkey and Greece. The journey will end with another game between the hosts and Czech Republic. And what happened? James Metecan Birsen ('95), current number 2 of his generation in Eurohopes, finished with the best performance after leading his team to the win with 28 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals. We saw the forward on live in last year's edition, and since them he has been doing big steps forward. In a few weeks he will be with Fenerbahce in the NIJT Final Tournament of Barcelona, even he is two years younger than most of the prospects there. In the second game hosts beat czechs behind power-forward Damien Inglis ('95). The french player scored 11 points, pulled down 8 boards and dished 3 assists. Let's check every game.
-Greece 62 Turkey 70: Birsen was the big name in the win, showing that the turkish federation is betting for him and he answers really well. On court he plays in different positions, breaking the opponents balance many times. At the small-forward spot he uses his wingspan and height, playing also agressive defense sometimes over the point-guard, cutting pass lines. Even there is not a great difference in the final result Turkey dominated easy during a big part of the contest. The turkish bench rotations gave Greece some options. What players shined in the win? Guard Kartal Ozmizrak ('95) -3 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist- made a good job pressing, and also looking for the best option in offense. Inside the paint Ayberk Güleryüz ('95) -13 points, 7 boards and 3 steals- showed good moves close to basket. At greek side 2.10 center Giorgios Diamantakos ('95) ended with 11 points, 8 rebounds and 1 assist, even he put in fouls trouble early after hurting during the first minutes. Strong power-forward Socratis Gkelios ('95) added 8 points and 6 boards, while tiny point-guard Dimitris Nikolaou ('95) nailed 11 points with 1 rebound, with good legs and playing with much intensity.
-Czech Republic 40 France 55: A crazy contest, with bad percentages, and both squads missing many shots. Czechs -they will host this summer the Division "A" European Championship- started well with a good job from guard Radovan Koulil ('95), who finished with 3 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. But when he made the second foul his team struggled. He was making his teammates play in a good level, but french didn't waste their opportunity with him on the bench and recovered in the second quarter. Was not a good day for Adam Pechacek ('95), currently at Virtus Bologna, even he ended the contest with 11 points and 3 rebounds. Beside him forward Martin Peterka ('95) led czechs when they tried to make a step forward (7 points, 9 boards and 2 steals), but they couldn't. With a very physical game on defense France decided the contest with Inglis, Jean-Dieudonné Biog ('95) -8 points-, Olivier Yao-delon ('95) and Lionel Ebreuil ('95) in a great level behind. 2.01 youngster Elie Fedensieu ('96) added 4 points, 6 boards and 1 steal. The bigger difference was at the final, with the important players resting.
Standings: France and Turkey (1-0), Greece and Czech Republic (0-1).
Note: between both games the organization introduced all the teams to the people attending the gym, with the inauguration of the new floor.
