Surprise in the third and last day of the U-16 Bellegarde tournament, held in the french city close to the swiss border, with Eurohopes staff following it on live. Turkey couldn't beat Czech Republic, and France took advantage of that to defeat Greece (with a 0-3 record) and earn the trophy. Forward Damien Inglis ('95), who collected a double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals) against greeks, ended as the MVP of the event. Let's check what happened in both games, with Prokop Slanina ('95) shining for czech squad with 24 points, 8 boards, 3 steals and 2 assists. Turkish James Metecan Birsen ('95), even he struggled yesterday, was named the MVP.
-Turkey 74 Czech Republic 82: A bad start of team coached by Taner Gunay and a great job of czechs showed their credentials in the first quarter. With Birsen in fouls trouble (3 in the first quarter and a flagrant one in the second) Turkey found a lot of problems. They weren't playing concentrated as previous days, and point guard Radovan Koulil ('95) shined without resting during the 40 minutes. The prospect finished close to the triple double (16 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds), being unstoppable for the rivals. Beside him other teammates made a big performance, like Slanina and Martin Peterka ('95). The forward collected a double-double (18 points, 11 rebounds and 2 assists). The intensity of these three players and Adam Pechacek ('95), the key of a team that this summer will host the Division "A" U-16 European Championship. Czechs dominated since the beginning, even turkish tried to recover several times without luck. At the losing effort Kartal Ozmizrak ('95) had 16 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, while Cedi Osman ('95) added 13 and 2 rebounds. Birsen scored 9, with 3 rebounds and 2 assists.
-France 54 Greece 45: France didn't waste the opportunity given by Turkey and finally won the tournament with a final victory over Greece. Another great defense of french prospects became really important to add the important win. Inglis shined, but wasn't alone, helped by guard Charly Pontens ('95), with 14 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist, and forward Paul Rigot ('95), with 6 points, 5 boards and 1 assist. 2.10 center Giorgios Diamantakos ('95), from Spartiatikos, struggled against the opponent defense ending with 4 points, 5 rebounds and 1 block. Guard Michalis Liapis ('95) finished as the best greek element with 16 points, 6 steals and 5 rebounds, while Ilias Theodorou ('95) added 7 points, 3 assists and 2 rebounds. Youngster Dimitris Stamatis ('96) didn't play due to an injury. Good step forward of France preparing the U-16 EC of this summer. Eurohopes will be in the Czech Republic to update about what will go on there.
Final standings: France (2-1), Turkey (2-1), Czech Republic (2-1) and Greece (0-3).
