How to spend 13 hours and a half in a gym? Staying in Arena Riga for the U-19 World Championship. Big show in some of the games of our second day in the latvian capital, especially the one between Lithuania and USA, maybe the future final. The contest went to the overtime after crazy performances of Jonas Valanciunas ('92) and Jeremy Lamb ('92), but also from Edgaras Ulanovas ('92) and Dovydas Redikas ('92). We will talk later about all this. The journey ended with Latvia knocked out from the quarterfinals fight and Russia almost, after losing against Argentina (team coached by Enrique Elias Tolcachier will be in the "Elite Eight"). Taking a quick look to the stats recap we can see that Toronto Raptors draftee Valanciunas is the best scorer (21.4), rebounder (13.4), blocker (3.6) and the prospect who has collected more double-doubles (4). And in only 28 minutes. We haven't seen many european scouts. The reason? We really don't know. Maybe they will come from quarterfinals? But let's check what happened yesterday.
The journey started with Canada playing against Egypt. Gonzaga's point-guard Kevin Pangos ('93) made his tournament high with 22 points and 5/7 from downtown in 27 minutes, leading team coached by Greg Francis to the win (91-71) and keeping their chances to make it to the second round still alive. Serbian born Stefan Jankovic ('93) didn't play for canadians (bad news for us), while 7'4'' center Sim Bhullar ('92), teammate of Jankovic at Huntington Prep, only stayed 19 minutes on court (6 points, 7 boards and 2 blocks). At the losing effort Marawan Mohamed ('92) finished as their best scorer with 16 points (5/10 FG) and 7 rebounds in 20'.
A Croatia-Serbia game is always interesting. Doesn't matter where is played, if it's official or not. Both want to qualify for next round, and the contest was enough important for them. And youngster Aleksander Cvetkovic ('93) -at the pic- appeared during the last minutes to kill his opponent (68-73). The point-guard from Red Star, MVP of last edition of the Nike International Junior Tournament of Belgrade, decided in the clutch time (last 8 team points), ending with 12 (5/10 FG) and 2 steals. During the first three quarters serbian captain Djordje Drenovac ('92), from Arkadia (Austria), sent the team to the good way (ended with 19 points and 8/14 FG). Croatian arrived to last minutes with its phenom Dario Saric ('94) fouled out after scoring 11 points (5/12 FG), pulling down 8 rebounds and dishing 3 assists. They needed to look for other solutions, like Boris Barac ('92) behind the arc or Marko Ramljak ('93) running. But couldn't stop Cvetkovic. Barac had 18 points and 2/4 threes and Ramljak 10 and 7 boards, while youngster Mario Hezonja ('95) showed his potential with 10 and 2/3 from downtown. Point-guard Toni Katic ('92) played well against Cvetkovic during first three quarters, but wasn't enough.
And Lithuania-USA arrived. Great show from both teams, arriving to the overtime after a crazy battle and with the americans remaining unbeaten (105-107). Jeremy Lamb ('92), from Connecticut (NCAA), led the victory with 35 points (5/7 threes), 4 rebounds and 3 steals (he is the best tournament stealer). But wasn't alone. The power of Patrick Young ('92) in the paint, scoring important dunks in the last period and finishing with 15 points and 7 boards, hurt lithuanians a lot. But also the job of point-guard Joe Jackson ('92) with 19 points and 6 assists, even 8/22 FG. Europeans needed to come back after their bad start, and when Valanciunas appeared the game tied. The 6'11'' center collected another double-double (30 points with 11/20 FG and 10 boards), adding 4 blocks. Valanciunas had the huge help of Ulanovas and Redikas, who had 29 points (4/9 threes) and 22 with 10 boards. The heart of both, and especially Ulanovas put americans in trouble. Lithuanians fought till the last second even point-guard Vytenis Cizauskas ('92) didn't play due to an injury. Massive help of the lithuanian crowd at Arena Riga. Maybe both teams will find himselves later.
Brazil-Australia came next. Also important contest for them looking for the first position of group E and the qualyfication for next round. And team coached by Damien Cotter confirmed their good moment winning 57-63 behind duo Mitchell Creek ('92) - Hugh Greenwood ('92). First had 23 points, 10 rebounds and 5 steals, while the guard ended with 17 and 5 steals. "Europeans" Anthony Drmic ('92) and Igor Hadziomerovic ('92) -both will play next year in Boise State (NCAA)- struggled with horrible shooting cards, but no problem. They added another win. Drmic had 2 points (0/10 FG) and Hadziomerovic didn't score (0/6 FG). Point-guard Raul Neto ('92) kept showing his skills (19 points and 2 assists), while Carlos Felicio ('92) sent good sensations with an interesting progression since last year (16 points, 12 boards and 2 blocks).
Latvia had the last chance to keep alive in the tournament infront Poland, but 1993 polish generation is really good, and even hosts were losing during all the game easy they came back in the last quarter. But Mateusz Ponitka ('93) appeared leading the victory (86-78) behind 26 points and a great efficiency at free throws line (11/11). Beside him guard Michal Michalak ('93) nailed 19 pulling down 8 boards, and Przemek Karnowski ('93) added 13 and 8 rebounds. Local rising star Davis Bertans ('92) didn't play a good first half -like the rest of his team- but he was an important piece of the engine when they came back, collecting a double-double (16 points and 11 boards), with 3/7 from downtown. Point-guard Kaspars Vecvagars ('93), from Zalgiris Kaunas, tallied 21 with 6/22 FG, while Edmunds Dukulis ('92), from Cantu, added another double-double (10 points and 10 rebounds but 2/12 FG).
Finally, in the last game of the day Argentina made it to the next round with a suprising win against Russia (70-73). They showed a great face since the jump ball, with Montverde Academy's Patricio Garino ('93) scoring easy from 3 points line. Russians slept during many (a lot) of minutes, but led by Sergey Karasev ('93) and Viktor Zaryazhko ('92) they came back tying the game again. Karasev nailed 25 points, adding 8 boards and 3 assists, and the guard had 10 with 4/8 FG. Inside players Marcos Delia ('92) and Franco Giorgetti ('92) helped the dream become true with a nice job. The last ball was for team coached by former player Mikhail Soloviev, but they turned crazy looking for Karasev (overguarded). Wasn't Dmitry Kulagin ('92) night either: 6 points with 3/10 FG. Eventhough Russia will wait for a combination to make it to second round. Needs to beat Latvia and wait Argentina to defeat Brazil.
In the fight between the 13th and 16th final positions, in Liepaja, Korea beat Tunisia (78-72) behind Kim Giyun ('92), who had 20 points and 6 assists, and China destroyed China Taipei (91-48) with a great performance of Nike Hoop Summit's Guo Ailun ('93): 24 and 4 assists.
Standings:
Group E: Australia and Poland (4-1), Brazil and Argentina (3-2), Russia and Latvia (2-3).
Group F: USA (5-0), Lithuania, Serbia and Croatia (3-2), Canada (2-3) and Egypt (1-4).
Photo: FIBA.com
