Lithuania and Serbia will play the big final of the U-19 World Championship, held in Latvia, after beating Russia and Argentina in semifinals. Jonas Valanciunas ('92) and Bogdan Bogdanovic ('92) have been the leaders of both victories after great performances. Toronto Raptors draftee collected another huge double-double, while Partizan guard made his best game of the event. Taking a look to the stats recap we can check that lithuanian center is still first in points (21.4), rebounds (14.6), blocks (3.2) and double-doubles (7). Crazy. Let's check what happened today in both semifinals.
-Lithuania 85 Russia 68: After 10 minutes the score was already 25-11. Lithuanians started too strong for russians, with Valanciunas becoming unstoppable once more, finishing with 21 points (8/10 FG), 13 rebounds and 2 assists. His teammate Rolandas Jakstas ('92) also started in a great level, ending with 11 points and 4 boards in only 17 minutes. Other prospects shined at the winning effort, like Dovydas Redikas ('92) -will play for Lietuvos next season-, with 13 points and 3 rebounds, and 6'7'' forward Zygimantas Skucas ('92), with 12 points and 3 boards in 15'. For russia Dmitry Kulagin ('92) showed again his letal skills, ending with 27 points (3/4 from downtown), 3 rebounds and 2 assists. He has been one of the big names of the tournament. Also at the losing effort 6'9'' center Alexander Tikhonin ('92) added 13 points (5/7 FG) and 4 boards and Sergey Karasev ('93) and Vlad Trushkin ('93) had 9 points apiece.
-Serbia 76 Argentina 71: Both squads played yesterday night a really tied contest, where the performance of Bogdanovic -Adidas Eurocamp participant in 2010- gave a plus to serbian team. The guard nailed 25 points (4/6 threes), pulled down 8 rebounds, put 3 blocks and made a good job on defense over Montverde Academy (Florida) prospect Patricio Garino ('93). Beside him 7'3'' center Nemanja Besovic ('92), also from Partizan, had 15 points and 7 rebounds while Marko Gujanicic ('92) scored 14 grabbing 6 rebounds. 6'9'' center Marcos Delia ('92) ended as the best argentinian with a double-double (19 points and 10 boards), while 5'9'' PG Juan Gavieno ('92), from 9 de Julio, added 13 and 5 rebounds. Luciano Massarelli ('92) had 12 but with 5/14 FG. Argentina will fight with Russia for the Bronze Medal, a grear achievment for team coached by Enrique Elias Tolcachier (watch video attached for serbian quotes).
In the fight between the 5th and 8th final positions USA crashed Poland (47-84) with Mateusz Ponitka ('93) sidelined due to an injury. Doug McDermott ('92), from Creighton, led the victory with 19 points (8/13 FG), while the best at the losing effort was Michal Michalak ('93) with 13 points and 5 rebounds. In another contest Australia made the same with Croatia (90-63) behind Hugh Greenwood ('92), with 21 points (9/18 FG), and Mitchell Creek ('92), who flirted with the triple-double: 20 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists. Best croatian scorer? Boris Barac ('92) with 20 and 4/7 behind the arc.
Finally, in the battle between the 9th and 13th positions Canada beat Egypt (79-84) led by Dyshawn Pierre ('93), who ended with 28 points and 13 boards with 12/16 FG. At the losing effort Assem Ahmed ('92) made collected another double-double, as usual: 19+13. Finally Latvia lost to Brazil (81-73) even Davis Bertans ('92). The NBA draftee had 25 points (9/17 FG). Who shined for brazilians? Davi Rossetto ('92) had 19 points with 6/8 FG.
Photo: FIBA.com