Lithuania won the U-19 World Championship, held in Latvia, after beating Serbia yesterday evening in the big final (67-85) behind another crazy performance of Jonas Valanciunas ('92). The center recently drafted by Toronto Raptors, who was selected MVP of the event, nailed 36 points (13/18 FG and 10/14 FT), pulled down 8 rebounds and put 3 blocks in 40 minutes without resting. The rest of the All-Tournament team was for serbian Aleksandar Cvetkovic ('93), "aussie" Hugh Greenwood ('92), american Jeremy Lamb ('92) and russian Dmitry Kulagin ('92). In the game for the Bronze medal Russia beat Australia led again by Kulagin. Let's check for more details:
-Serbia 67 Lithuania 85: Helped by a huge group of lithuanians in the Arena Riga team coached by Kazys Maksvytis earned the title after beating serbians in a contest really tied during the first 26 minutes. After that, a 3-18 run till the end of the third quarter, plus the damage Valanciunas did when opponent tried to get closer, killed serbian chances. Fastbreaks in quick transitions after turnover or missed shot were unstoppable. Beside the center also shined Edgaras Ulanovas ('92), with 12 points and 5/8 FG. Great tournament for him finishing with 11.3 points and 3.3 boards. Arnas Butkevicius ('92) and Vytenis Cizauskas ('92) had 9 apiece. And at the losing effort? Captain Djordje Drenovac ('92), from Arkadia (Austria), led the scorers with 14 points and 4 rebounds, while guard Bogdan Bogdanovic ('92) added 13, dishing 3 assists. Point-guards Aleksander Cvetkovic ('93) and Bogic Vujosevic ('92) tallied 11.
-Argentina 72 Russia 77: With another show from Dmitry Kulagin ('92), recently released by Nizhny Novgorod, russians won the Bronze medal with the guard ending with 24 points (10/20 FG), 8 boards and 4 assists. Team coached by Mikhail Soloviev made a good last quarter (19-27), fighting against argentinian shots from behind the arc (11/22). Other russians who shined were Sergey Karasev ('93) -son of former player Vasily-, with 17 points (9/9 FT), and center Aleksandr Gudumak ('93), with 17 also and 7 boards. Power-forward Vlad Trushkin ('93) added 10 and 5 rebounds. Great tournament for Argentina. Yesterday the best at the losing effort was 6'8'' PF Franco Giorgetti ('92), from Peñarol de Mar del Plata, with 18 points and 7/10 FG. Pablo Pérez ('92) added 13 with 5/5 FG and Juan Giaveno ('92) 10 with 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Marcos Delia ('92) and Patricio Garino ('93) struggled.
In the battle between the 5th and 8th position Poland beat Croatia (70-82) with Przemek Karnowski ('93) crashing the stats: 29 points (11/18 FG) and 9 rebounds. Best scorer for Croatia? Dario Saric ('94) with 21 points, 9 boards and 2 assists. In another contest of this fight USA had problems to beat Australia, but the did it (77-78) behind Timothy Hardaway ('92): 21 points with 8/16 FG. Hugh Greenwood ('92) -next season will play for New Mexico ('92), scored 26 with 6/14 threes at the other side.
Final standings: 1-Lithuania, 2-Serbia, 3-Russia, 4-Argentina, 5-USA, 6-Australia, 7-Poland, 8-Croatia, 9-Brazil, 10-Latvia, 11-Canada, 12-Egypt, 13-China, 14-China Taipei, 15-Korea and 16-Tunisia.
Stats recap
Points: Jonas Valanciunas ('92, Lithuania, 23.0)
Rebounds: Jonas Valanciunas ('92, Lithuania, 13.9)
Assists: Vytenis Cizauskas ('92, Lithuania, 5.6) and Grzegorz Grochowski ('93, Poland, 5.6)
Steals: Assem Ahmed ('92, Egypt, 2.3)
Blocks: Jonas Valanciunas ('92, Lithuania, 3.2)
Double-doubles: Jonas Valanciunas ('92, Lithuania, 7)
2-points shots: Ailun Guo ('93, China, 68%)
3-points shots: Davi Rossetto ('92, Brazil, 50%)
Free throws: Bogic Vujosevic ('92, Serbia, 89%)
More stats here.
Photo: FIBA.com
