First day of the Qualifying Round of the U20 Division "A" European Championship of Bilbao (Spain) and Nikola Mirotic ('91) appeared again for hosts to lead Spain to the victory against a tough Ukraine. Montenegrin born power-forward made the craziest show of the tournament with 41 points (10/16 twos, 4/4 threes and 9/11 FT), 14 rebounds and 2 blocks, giving to his team the ticket for the quarterfinals already. Spaniards are leading their group with Italy (3-0), while at the other one France and Russia are with the same record. All these teams are qualifyied for the Top-8. What happened yesterday in the fight for the relegation? Croatia and Lithuania made a bad first step losing to Austria and Serbia. Interesting games coming today also, but let's check yesterday's scores.
In group F Spain and Italy are leading with a 3-0 record after their wins against Ukraine (67-72) and Turkey (59-69). As we said Mirotic crashed ukranians, who were winning by 10 with 5 minutes remaining in the clock, with a crazy show, helped in the clucth time by Josep Franch ('91). Joventut Badalona point-guard scored 13 points (even 3/16 FG), but adding 4 assists and 2 boards. At the losing effort Oleksandr Lypovyy ('91) showed great details: 23 points (3/5 threes) and 8 rebounds. Beside him 7'1'' center Artem Pustovyi ('92) and Olexandr Mishula ('91) scored 8 apiece. Italy also made another step forward beating turkish squad behind a double-double from Nicolò Melli ('91): 14 points (6/11 FG), 14 rebounds and 3 assists. Three italian prospects more made a good job finishing with double-digits: Alessandro Gentile ('92) nailed 13 with 2 steals, while 6'9'' Riccardo Cervi ('91) and Michele Vitali ('91) knocked 10 each. For Turkey Furkan Aldemir ('91) showed again his power inside the paint -18 points, 19 rebounds and 2 blocks- and Hüseyin Köksal ('91) added another double-double: 19 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists. In the other game of the group Germany showed its credentials beating Greece (70-51) and adding its second victory in this round. 6'9'' Daniel Theis ('92) led the win with 19 points, 19 rebounds and 2 blocks, helped by Boston College commitment Patrick Heckmann ('92), with 12 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Greeks found a lot of problems to score (33% FG), with Olympiakos Dimitrios Katsivelis ('91) nailing 13 points, but 3/14 FG. 6'9'' Emmanouil Koukoulas ('91) added 10 with 5/6 FG in only 17 minutes.
In group E France and Russia are still unbeaten in this round (3-0) after defeating Slovenia (64-75) and Latvia (58-81). French kids were led again by Evan Fournier ('92). The small-forward scored 19 points (8/15 FG), grabbing 6 rebounds and dishing 2 assists. Forward Kevin Mendy ('92) also shined with 14 and 5/8 FG, while Ferdinand Prenom ('91) helped with 10 (5/5 FG) and 6 boards. At slovenian side Edo Muric ('91), who is averaging 14.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in the event, ended as the best scorer with 16 (adding 9 boards). Guard Klemen Prepelic ('92) had 15 with 3/7 behind the arc. Russia is also in the good way after beating Latvia by 23 points with a good performance from 6'9'' Andrey Zubkov ('91), who had 20 points (8/12 FG) and 8 boards. Pavel Antipov ('91) played his best contest in Bilbao, with 19 points and 8/14 FG in only 20 minutes. Russians were leading by 13 already at half time. For latvians, who were killed in the rebound fight (29 to 47), 6'9'' Mareks Mejeris ('91) nailed 14 points with 6/12 FG, while guard Arturs Bricis ('92) added 12 with 3/5 threes. In the other game of the group Sweden almost surprised Montenegro (78-80), but shocked against Buducnost's Bojan Dubljevic ('91), tournament's second best scorer: 34 points (14/19 FG), 12 rebounds and 2 assists. Joventut Badalona's Marko Todorovic ('92) also made a good job: 10 points and 8 boards in only 19 minutes. Montenegrin squad was leading by 11 at half time, but swedish came back led by Davidson's Chris Czerapowicz ('91): 20 points (7/12 FG), 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Andreas Person ('91) scored 19 with 8/14 FG and 5 rebounds and Viktor Gaddefors ('92), from Virtus Bologna, added 12 with 4/7 FG.
And what about the relegation? Austria and Serbia started great their fight beating Croatia (61-64) and Lithuania (95-64). In the first game austrians surprised their opponent behind Lukas Linzer ('91), who ended with 14 points (7/10 FG) and two players who collected a double-double: Anton Maresch ('91), with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and youngster Jozo Rados ('93), with 10 and 12 boards. At the losing effort Luka Babic ('91) fought with 18 points (5/10 threes) and 6 rebounds and Ivan Batur ('91) with 16 (3/8 threes) and 6 boards. In the other contest Serbia crashed Lithuania, winning by 17 points already at halftime. Danilo Andjusic ('91) led the win with 21 points and 5/8 threes and Adidas Eurocamp participant Nemanja Nedovic ('91), from Red Star, added 20 (4/8 threes) with 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Great performance of the guard. At lithuanian side Paulius Dambrauskas ('91) and Dovydas Redikas ('92) had 15 apiece (2/4 threes each).
Standings:
-Group E: France and Russia (3-0), Montenegro (2-1), Latvia (1-2), Sweden and Slovenia (0-3).
-Group F: Spain and Italy (3-0), Germany (2-1), Greece (1-2), Ukraine and Turkey (0-3).
-Classification Round: Serbia and Austria (1-0), Croatia and Lithuania (0-1).
Photo: Jonatan González
