The preliminary round of the U-19 World Championship of Latvia is over, with four teams already knocked out of the fight for the title: Taipei, Tunisia, Korea and China. Monday will start the eighth final round in Riga, and during three days the squads will try to earn a spot in quarterfinals. Today three European teams lost their first contests (Russia, Latvia and Croatia), while USA remains as the only unbeaten team. Let's check what happenned in all the contests.
Group A
-Poland 87 Russia 70: Polish kids ended first of group after a great win against russians, who arrived to this game unbeaten. The contest was tied at half time (44-44), but they reacted with 2.15 center Przemek Karnowski ('93) leading the team: 23 points (9/13 FG), 3 rebounds and 2 blocks. Beside him also shined Mateusz Ponitka ('93), 19 points and 7 boards, and Michal Michalak ('93), 19 and 8. Forward Piotr Niedzwiezki ('93) added 11 and 7 boards. And at russian side? Lefty small-forward Sergey Karasev ('93), its leader, finished as the best scorer with 14 points (but 6/16 FG), 5 rebounds and 3 assists, while center Andrey Loginov ('93) had 11 with 5/7 FG and 3 steals. 2.00 forward Gleb Goldyrev ('93) nailed 10 points with 2/2 from downtown, but making 5 fouls in only 15 minutes. Russia ended third of the group A, earning one of the eighth final round spots like Poland.
-Brazil 97 Tunisia 56: Easy for Brazilians, endind second of the group and taking a place at eighth final round. Lucas Nogueira ('92), from Asefa Estudiantes (Spain), made a good job leading the victory (19 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks in only 24 minutes). His teammate Felipe Vezaro ('92) scored 12 with 2/3 from downtown. At African side Maher Souabni ('92) ended as their best scorer with 18 points and 4 rebounds.
Standings: Poland, Brazil and Russia (2-1) and Tunisia (0-3).
Group B
-Australia 93 Taipei 65: Australians earned a spot in eighth final round with a confortable victory behind its magic duo. 6'5'' small-forward Anthony Drmic ('92) tallied 34 points with 7/9 from downtown and 8 rebounds, while 6'5'' guard Igor Hadziomerovic ('92) added 27 with 2/5 threes, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. For Taipei Hung Kang-Chiao ('92) scored 22 points with 11/17 FG, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.
-Latvia 62 Argentina 69: NBA draftee Davis Bertans ('92) missed his 11 three-pointers (0/11) and only scored 6 points and pulled down 8 rebounds in the first local loss in the tournament. With both teams with a guaranteed spot in the eighth final round the job of other latvians wasn't enough either. Kaspars Vecvagars ('93) scored 17 points with 2/5 threes and grabbed 4 rebounds, while Edmunds Dukulis ('92) flirted with the double-double (16 points, 9 rebounds and 2 steals). Janis Timma ('92) had 10 with 4 rebounds and 4 steals. Latvians had a lot of problems to score in the first half (9 points each quarter), without recovering it later. At argentinian side Luciano Massarelli ('93) nailed 15 points (even 1/7 threes) and pulled down 2 boards, while Franco Giorgetti ('92) added a double-double: 14 points (2/3 threes), 10 rebounds and 1 block.
Standings: Australia, Latvia and Argentina (2-1) and Taipei (0-3).
Group C
-Croatia 71 Korea 75: With already a spot in eighth final round Croatian coach gave rest to Saric, Katic and Ramljak, and they lost against Korea, with no options to make it. Boris Barac ('92), brother of Stanko (Caja Laboral), wasn't enough even he made another big game with 21 points (9/17 FG), 7 rebounds and 2 assists. Beside him Stipe Krstanovic ('93) collected a double-double (19 points, 16 rebounds and 1 assist) and youngster Mario Hezonja ('95) had 10 and 4 boards. The second quarter (11-24 for Korea) didn't help at European side. At the winning effort Kim Manjong ('92) scored 19 points, with 8 rebounds and 2 blocks, while Kim Hyeongjun ('93) added the same points, pulling down 2 rebounds. Other asiatic prospects made a good job: Kim Jun Yi ('92) had 12 points (6/9 FG) and 8 rebounds, and youngster Lee Dong Yeop ('94) 12 dishing 5 assists.
-Lithuania 111 Canada 68: After the bad opener against Croatia lithuanians recovered with two crazy wins, today over Canada by 43 points. At half time Jonas Valanciunas ('92) -at the pic- and company were already winning by 33. Guard Vytenis Cizauskas ('92) ended as the best scorer at the winning effort with 22 points (8/11 FG) and 5 assists in only 25 minutes. Beside him shined Valanciunas with 15 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocks in 14', while Egidijus Mockevicius ('92) added 13 points, 6 rebounds and 6 blocks. But three more lithuanians scored more than 10 points: Edgaras Ulanovas ('92) 12, Tautvydas Sabonis ('92) and Arnas Butkevicius ('92) 11. Canada struggled a lot. A lot. Only one player reached double-digits. Dyshawn Pierre ('93) had 10 with 9 rebounds in 23 minutes. Three of them scored 8: Sim Bhullar ('92), Olivier Hanlan ('93) and Philip Scrubb ('92).
Standings: Croatia and Lithuania (2-1), Canada and Korea (1-2).
Group D
-USA 82 China 66: Americans ended as the only unbeaten team in this preliminary round after beating China, out of the fight before the start, without options to make it to next round. Jeremy Lamb ('92), from Connecticut (NCAA), led the victory with 17 points (7/12 FG), and Doug McDermott ('92), from Creighton, added 15 (3/5 threes) and 8 boards. For chinese, Ju Mingxin ('93) scored 17 points and pulled down 5 boards.
-Serbia 85 Egypt 67: Second win for serbians, in this case against an african team that defeated China yesterday, qualifying for the next round. Crazy news for them. Today guard Aleksander Cvetkovic ('93), from Red Star and MVP of last Belgrade's Nike International Junior Tournament (Euroleague), made another great performance with 24 points (8/15 FG), 4 rebounds and 2 steals. Petar Lambic ('92) also made a good job with 12 points (2/4 from downtown) and 5 assists, while 6'8'' forward Marko Gujanicic ('92), from Mladost, added a double-double: 11 points, 14 rebounds and 1 block. Egypt fought, with Assem Ahmed ('92) becoming its best scorer with 20 points (9/15 FG), 11 rebounds and 4 steals. His teammate Omar Mohamed ('94), born in USA, scored 14 points and grabbed 3 boards, while Youssef Shousha ('93) had 10 with 8/10 free throws.
Standings: USA (3-0), Serbia (2-1), Egypt (1-2) and China (0-3).
Photo: FIBA.COM
