By EH
We woke up at 5.15am at the Etap hotel infront Charleroi airport, in Belgium, where we landed the night before. Long trip to arrive to Riga (Latvia), but quite cheap using Ryanair low cost airline. That was the reason why we spent the night there. Less budget means low cost. We will stay three days in latvian capital to follow the eightfinal round, and after we will go back home. After leaving the case in the hotel (8 minutes from the gym) we walked to the Arena Riga, arriving there after the crazy win of Croatia against Egypt (83-81). Phenom Dario Saric ('94), number #1 of Eurohopes'94 ranking, didn't play well (we were told). But reading his stats maybe you feel stupid saying that: 19 points (7/12 FG), 16 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks (but 7 turnovers). Not easy for balcanics. Five croatians needed to play 30 minutes at least to beat the africans. Beside Saric also shined four prospects more. Youngster Mario Hezonja ('95) added 15 and 4 assists, Toni Katic ('92) 14 and 7 assists, Boris Barac ('92) 13 and 7 rebounds and Mislav Brzoja ('94) 11 with 2 steals. At the losing effort American born Omar Mohamed ('94) nailed 22 with 4/6 threes, while Assem Ahmed ('92) collected a double-double (22 points and 12 boards).
Upon we arrived to the arena we took a look. Good atmosphere. Like an american gym. Big facilities, american food available, big scoring board with screens,... Really nice. Serbia-Lithuania was a good battle to start watching the U-19 World Championship. Why they don't look more for Jonas Valanciunas ('92) at low post? That is the question. The Toronto Raptors draftee decided in the most important moment when serbians got close, finishing with 18 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks in the 54-71 victory. Serbians were behind during all the game, but when they had good minutes in the third quarter the center appeared showing to the crowd why he is currently #1 in Eurohopes. Shooting-guard Dovydas Redikas ('92) also made a good job on defense (over Cvetkovic) and offense (17 with 3/4 threes), while point-guard Vytenis Cizauskas ('92) added a complete contest: 10 points, 8 boards and 7 assists (even 7 turnovers). After the first upset of the tournament against Croatia they are focused in their initial goal. At the losing effort Aleksander Cvetkovic ('93) -will he take part in the U18 EC?- ended as the best scorer, playing his type of game; using p&r as his main weapon with 4-5 shots most of times really effective. The point-guard tallied 15 points and pulled down 3 rebounds. Also good work from guard Petar Lambic ('92), with a double-double (10 points, 12 rebounds and 2/3 from downtown), while 7'3'' center Nemanja Besovic ('92) -who played good actions over Valanciunas- had 10 points and 7 rebounds. Bogdan Bogdanovic ('92) finished with bad percentages (2/9 FG), but showed many good things playing in all three outside positions.
USA-Canada was the next game. No option for canadians, even they have one of the most interesting prospects with 7'4'' Sim Bhullar, from Huntington Prep. The center had 15 points, 7 rebounds and 7/10 FG infront many NBA scouts, with his name written in their papers (we suppose). USA crashed team coached by Greg Francis by 29 points (83-54). Talented Kevin Pangos ('93) struggled (0pt, 0/8 FG) against much more physical players. Serbian born Stefan Jankovic ('93) only played 6 minutes after choosing to play with Canada only few weeks ago. James Bell ('92), from Villanova (NCAA), best scorer at winning effort with 16 points (4/6 threes) and 8 boards.
A hamburger with chips for lunch and Australia-Russia came next. The two "europeans" Anthony Drmic ('92) and Igor Hadziomerovic ('92) showed a good job, with the current leading scorer of the event (Drmic) finishing with 22 points (3/5 from downtown) and important baskets at clutch time. Hadziomerovic fought (15 with 5/9) and Hugh Greenwood ('92), Mitchell Creek ('92) and Owen Odigie ('93) helped a lot in the win (85-78). Russians lost the game in the last quarter (27-17). Details sent by Dmitry Kulagin ('92) and Sergey Karasev ('93) weren't enough: 19 points apiece and 16/30 FG. Both are their two best prospects, without forgetting Vlad Trushkin ('93).
Brazil showed its credentials winning (too) easy Latvia (73-88). Point-guard Raul Neto ('92) -who confirmed to Eurohopes that he has Italian passport- is playing in a great level, and against hosts he shined with 19 points and 7/11 FG in only 19 minutes. The brazilian engine worked since the jump ball, with a nice contest from small-forward Bruno Irigoyen ('92): 17 points and 4 boards. The job inside the paint from 6'9'' Cristiano Felicio ('92) hurt latvians also: 10 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks. NBA draftee Davis Bertans ('92) arrived to the game with three crazy performances behind the arc: 0/6, 6/9 and 0/11. Against brazilians he finished with 15 points (1/5 threes). Not enough. Edmunds Dukulis ('92), from Cantu (Italy), ended as the best at the losing effort with 22 points (9/13 FG) and 9 boards. Latvians will need to fight to make it to quarterfinals.
In the last contest of the day at Arena Riga Poland suffered to beat Argentina (71-73), even europeans were winning by 14 points at half time. Team coached by Jerzy Szambelan has only U-18 players in order to prepare the European Championship of this category in his home country in a few weeks. Is its Federation decision. We will see if they arrive tired to that event. Mateusz Ponitka ('93), its leader, led the victory with 20 points (11/16 FT) and 4 rebounds. But he wasn't alone. The rest of this great generation showed their skills. Guard Michal Michalak ('93) added 16 with 4/7 threes and Piotr Niedzwiedzki ('93) -at the pic- 14 and 7 boards. The heart of Argentina sent them to a tied end, but they lost. 6'5'' forward Carlos Paredes ('92) nailed 17 with 4/6 from downtown. One step more forward of Poland.
After the contest, with a couple of ACB spanish scouts, we went to the downtown to dinner. Nice place. And after, time to sleep after a long day after waking-up at 5.15am in Belgium.
In Liepaja, more than 200km from Riga, two games for the battle between the 13th and 16th positions were played. China beat Korea (95-88) led by 2.13 center Wang Zhelin ('94), with 21 points and 13 rebounds, while China Taipei beat Tunisia (59-70) behind 5'11'' point-guard Chen Ying-Chun ('93): 24 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists.
Standings:
Group E: Brazil, Australia and Poland (3-1), Russia, Latvia and Argentina (2-2).
Group F: USA (4-0), Croatia and Lithuania (3-1), Serbia and Canada (2-2) and Egypt (1-3).
Photo: FIBA.COM
