Lithuania-Russia and Argentina-Serbia. USA knocked out. Croatian Dario Saric ('94) & Co. knocked out also. What happened yesterday in the U-19 World Championship held in Latvia? The athletic americans (watch Florida's Patric Young and you will know what I am talking about) shocked against Russia wall, with Dmitry Kulagin ('92) hurting them after the jump ball and Vlad Trushkin ('93) -at the pic- killing them from the distance last minutes (watch video attached). Really big upset for them. And Croatia? Led by Montverde Academy (Florida) Patricio Garino ('93) Argentina made it to the Top-4 showing a huge heart, and beating talented croatians. And the current tournament MVP, Lithuanian Jonas Valanciunas ('92), surprised once more destroying Poland with an amazing double-twenty. Let's see more details.
-Poland 75 Lithuania 87: After some games sidelined due on an injury Polish PG Grzegorz Grochowski ('93) came back. Happened the same with Lithuanian Vytenis Cizauskas ('92). All the weapons on court ready to fight for one spot in the semifinals. But Valanciunas & Co. won too easy against a team where leading scorer Mateusz Ponitka ('93) couldn't play the full game due to an injury. At half time they were already winning by 14 points, with Valanciunas destroying the opponent. The Toronto Raptors draftee ended with 26 points (8/19 FG and 10/11 ft), 24 rebounds and 3 assists. Unstoppable? Przemek Karnowski ('93) plaed good minutes against him, but Valanciunas game was again enough. Point-guard Cizauskas nailed 13 with 7 rebounds and 6 assists, while Zygimantas Scukas ('92) and Edgaras Ulanovas ('92) had 11 apiece. At Polish side Michal Michalak ('93) fought with 29 and 13 boards. Karnowski added 16.
-Russia 79 USA 74: And the big upset of the journey arrived with the american elimination against russians. European squad started very strong, with Kulagin scoring most of its points and finishing with 21 points (5/6 from downtown), 12 boards and 3 assists. USA came back, but shocked against the great performance of Trushkin in the last minutes. The forward finished with 19 points and 3/6 from downtown, all of them knocked in the most important moment. Beside them also shined lefty Sergey Karasev ('93) with 17 and 5/12 FG. The athletic american prospects had in Connecticut's Jeremy Lamb ('92) as their best scorer with 21 points (9/22 FG), 5 boards and 2 steals. Memphis point-guard Joe Jackson ('92) added 14 with 2 assists and 2 steals and Illinois 7'0'' center Meyers Leonard ('92) 13 and 5 rebounds. Patric Young ('92) struggled: 5 points and 5 boards.
-Australia 74 Serbia 93: Noone expected an easy victory like this one. Aussies showed a great image during the tournament, but the best Serbia came to kill australian kids with six players scoring in double-digits. Captain Djordje Drenovac ('92) tallied 17 points with 2/4 from downtown, while Luka Mitrovic ('93), from Hemofarm, added the same points in only 17 minutes. Point-guard Aleksander Cvetkovic ('93), their best prospect in the event, ended with 15 points and 6/9 FG, while Petar Lambic ('92) -the best 3 pointer shooter of the tournament- scored 12 adding 6 boards. Who shined for Australia? Guard Hugh Greenwood ('92) scored 25 points with 8/18 FG and 2 rebounds, while "european" Anthony Drmic ('92) -next season will play for Boise State (NCAA)- had 15 with 5/12 FG. Power-forward Mitchell Creek ('92) scored 11 with 6 boards.
-Argentina 81 Croatia 76: Finally argentinians avoid the European party in semifinals after surprising Croatia, where phenom Saric wasn't enough even he finished with a good contest. The forward scored 24 points (10/18 FG), pulled down 9 rebounds and dished 3 assists. Beside him other players made a good job, like Boris Barac ('92) -Stanko's brother- with 22 (13/15 FT) and 7 rebounds and point-guard Toni Katic ('92), who finished with 16 (7/11 FG), 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Argentina showed a big heart and a huge team game (running fastbreak really well), led by Garino (21 points with 5/7 threes and 8 rebounds), helped by 6'9'' center Marcos Delia ('92), with 16 points and 7/13 FG, and power-forward Franco Giorgetti ('92) with 12 and 6 rebounds. Argentina played a big first half, finishing 14 points up. When croatians came back Garino's threes stopped them.
In the battle between the 9th and 12th final position Brazil beat Egypt (77-63) behind point-guard Davi Rossetto ('92) -with 18 points and 4/5 threes-, while for africans the best once more was center Assem Ahmed ('92) with another double-double: 15 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks. In another contest of this fight Latvia defeat Canada (99-96) led by Cantu's center Edmunds Dukulis ('92) with 23 points, 11 rebounds and 2 assists. The best canadian was Dyshawn Pierre ('93) with 30 points and 10 rebounds.
Photo: FIBA.com
