Anyone expected Montenegro arriving to the third journey of the U20 Division "A" European Championship of Bilbao with a 2-0 record. After beating Slovenia their next victim has been Serbia. Big win for them, huge win (+25) in another show from Bojan Dubljevic ('91). Buducnost prospect is one of the event sensations, showing why he has averaged 4.5 points and 2.4 rebounds in Adriatic League. Montenegrin squad is not the only one that remains unbeaten. France and Spain added also their second victory. Other players shining after two days? Nikola Mirotic ('91) and Joan Sastre ('91), both from Spain, are playing in a great level. Let's check what happened yesterday.
As we have explained, in group A, Montenegro is with a 2-0 after crashing Serbia (60-85). The third quarter, with a 10-28 run, killed their opponent. Big game from many of their pieces. Dubljevic had 17 points and 4 rebounds, while youngster Nikola Ivanovic ('94) added 15 with 3/5 threes and Marko Todorovic ('92) collected a double-double: 13 points and 12 boards in only 21 minutes. At the losing effort Danilo Andjusic ('91) nailed 13 with 3 boards and Nemanja Jaramaz ('91) 8 with 3 assists. In the other contest Russia beat Slovenia (66-85) with power-forward Andrey Zubkov ('91) making a nice job: 19 points (8/12 FG) and 4 boards. Beside him Nikita Barinov ('91) had 17 and 5 boards. For Slovenia Marko Pajic ('92) tallied 18 with 3/6 from downtown and guard Jan Span ('92) 12 with 5/9 FG. Behind Montenegro (2-0), Russia and Serbia are tied (1-1) and Slovenia has no wins.
In group B France keeps unbeaten after defeating Sweden (79-55). Davidson's Chris Czerapowicz ('91) fought, but wasn't enough: 21 points with 5/7 threes and 4 rebounds. Swedish kids battled during first minutes, but talented french prospects showed why they are better. Andreas Person ('91) also made a good work at the losing effort with 13 and 3 steals. Who shined for France? Evan Fournier ('92) scored 16 points with 6/11 FG, while intriguing center Rudy Gobert ('92) added 14 points (7/8 FG) and 8 boards. In the other game Croatia beat Latvia (58-60) behind Ivan Buva ('91), with 13 points and 6 rebounds, while guard Ivan Mikulic ('91) had 9 pulling down 4 boards. At Latvian side Janis Antrops ('91) shined again with 19 points and 5/10 threes. Martins Meiers ('91) collected a double-double (10 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists). In the standings France is first (2-0) over Latvia and Croatia, both with 1-1, and Sweden (0-2).
In group C Spain made another great performance beating Greece (77-94). Team coached by Juanan Orenga had in magic duo Mirotic-Sastre the key of the win. Montenegrin born ended with 32 points (13/19 FG), 10 rebounds and 3 assists, while Cajasol Sevilla forward added 25 with 5/8 from downtown and 6 boards. Greek squad battled with their rising-star Linos Chrysikopoulos ('92) having 20 points, 8 rebounds and 1 block. Georgios Georgakis ('91) and Sokratis Psaropoulos ('92) added 14 points apiece. In the other contest Turkey beat Austria -lasts season champion of Division "B"- only by 5 points (72-67). Furkan Aldemir ('91) led the win with 22 points, 12 boards and 4 blocks, while guard Can Mutaf ('91) scored 20 but 7/21 FG. Austria started last quarter 9 points put, but only added 4 points during last period. In the standings Spain remains unbeaten (2-0) over Greece and Turkey, both with a 1-1 record. Finally Austria has no victories.
In group D all the teams are tied with one victory and one loss. Yesterday Italy beat Germany (62-75) with Alessandro Gentile ('92), from Benetton Treviso, having 24 points (4/7 threes), 7 rebounds and 4 assists, while Riccardo Moraschini ('91) added 15 with 7/11 FG and 6 boards. German Daniel Theis ('92) collected a double-double (15 points and 15 rebounds) and Boston College (NCAA) addition Patrick Heckmann ('92) ended with 14 points and 5/8 FG. In the other contest Ukraine defeated Lithuania (63-73) behind 7'1'' center Artem Pustovyi ('92), who finished with 22 points, 7 blocks and 6 rebounds. His teammate V'Yacheslav Bobrov ('92) added 14 points, 14 rebounds and 4 assists (even 7 TO). At the losing effort the didn't score from behind the arc (0/5). Mindaugas Kupsas ('91) fought with 21 points, 8 rebounds and 1 block.
Photo: FIBA Europe / Ciamillo-Castoria / Matteo Marchi (Montenegrin Milutin Dukanovic at the pic)
