Easy, very easy. Spain showed its credentials in the opener of the U20 Division "A" European Championship, held in Bilbao (Spain), with a crazy victory over Turkey by 49 points (90-41). Yes. It's true. Team coached by former player Juanan Orenga destroyed their rival since the jump ball with a big job on defense, with turkish suffering also from downtown (2/20). No way. And all this happened with spanish leader, Montenegrin born Nikola Mirotic ('91), in fouls trouble at the beginning. Cajasol Sevilla (ACB) small-forward Joan Sastre ('92) led the win with 16 points (6/9 FG) in only 19 minutes, while Mirotic added 15 (5/9 FG) and 3 boards. In the other game of group C Greece beat Austria (51-69) with small-forward Linos Chrysikopoulos ('92) appearing in the last minutes to kill the opponent with a 8-28 run in the last quarter. The prospect, who recently signed for Biella (Italy), ended with 16 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Beside him guard Sokratis Psaropoulos ('92) had also 16 with a great 7/7 FG and 2 assists. At the losing effort Anton Maresch ('91) finished as their best scorer with 15 (5/9 FG), dishing 2 assists, while youngster Jozo Rados ('93) added 13 points (6/12 FG) and 6 boards.
What happened in group A? Montenegro started with a big step forward beating Slovenia (80-77). 6'9'' Boban Dubljevic ('91), from Buducnost, made one of the best performances of this first journey after collecting a huge double-double: 30 points (13/22 FG) and 12 rebounds. Interesting contest also from youngster Nikola Ivanovic ('94), who had 15 points (5/7 FG) and 3 rebounds. At the losing effort 7'0'' center Alen Omic ('91) hurt, but not enough to win: 28 points (13/15 FG) and 4 rebounds. His teammate Edo Muric ('91) added 16, with 9 rebounds and 2 blocks. Montenegrins came back after recovering a 18 points deficit at half time. In the other game of the group Russia lost to Serbia (62-72), where guard Nemanja Jaramaz ('91) led the win with 15 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. His teammate Nemanja Nedovic ('91), from Red Star, had 13 (5/9 FG) and 2 assists. For Russia Ivan Strebkov ('91) nailed 13 with 2/3 from downtown and 7 rebounds, while Artem Gorlanov ('91) scored 11 but with 2/11 behind the arc.
Let's talk about group B. Croatia and France -one of the favorite teams for the Gold- played an awful game. Only seeing the final score you can imagine it (33-49). Squad coached by Jean-Aimé Toupane added its first victory behind rising-star Evan Fournier ('92), who ended with 18 points (8/20 FG) and 7 rebounds, helped by Leo Westermann ('92). ASVEL prospect had 10 points, 8 boards and 3 assists. What happened in Croatian ofense? 23% on FG. Crazy. Ivan Batur ('91) scored 10 points, grabbing 4 rebounds and dishing 1 assist, while Bosnian born Ante Cutura ('91) added 9 with 2/3 from downtown. In the other game Latvia suffered to beat Sweden (57-59) with a buzzer beater from Martins Mejeris ('91), who ended with 12 points and 5/10 FG. Guard Janis Antrops ('91) finished as the best scorer at winning effort with 13 even 1/8 threes. Viktor Gaddefors ('92), from Virtus Bologna, wasn't enough: 14 points and 7 boards. Alexander Lindqvist ('91) added 11 points and 4 boards. Maryland's Chris Czerapowicz ('91) struggled: 7 points (3/16 FG), 10 rebounds and 1 steal.
Finally in group D Lithuania and Italy played one of the best contests of the journey, with Saulius Kulvietis ('91) leading the victory (77-82). The forward scored 32 points (5/5 threes), pulled down 10 rebounds and put 1 block. His teammate Dovydas Redikas ('92) -Gold last week in the U19 WC- added 12 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds. Really tied game against a team where Achille Polonara ('91) nailed 18 points with 6/11 FG. PG Andrea de Nicolao ('91) nailed 15 with 3/9 threes, while Nicolò Melli ('91) -the italian with more potential- collected a double-double: 12 points, 10 rebounds and 2 steals. In the other game Germany beat Ukraine (68-72) behind the great performance of two NCAA prospects. Patrick Heckmann ('92), who next season will land in Boston College, scored 22 points with 8/12 FG and dished 2 assists, while Mathis Mönninghoff ('92), from Gonzaga, had 15 with 5/8 behind the arc. At the losing effort point-guard Andriy Lebedintsev ('91), from Mercator (Slovenia), tallied 18 points, pulling down 9 boards and distributing 5 assists. His teammate Oleksandr Lipovyy ('91), who this week re-sign 5 years more with Donetsk, had 16 with 4 rebounds and 3 assists.
Photo: Jonatan Gonzalez
