Spain, led by Nikola Mirotic ('91), is the new U20 European Champion. Team coached by former player Juanan Orenga beat yesterday Italy in the final (70-82) played in Bilbao (Basque Country), with the Montenegrin PF named the MVP of the event behind 27.0 points (60% 2p) and 10.0 rebounds. Who were the rest of players selected in the All-Tournament Team? French Evan Fournier ('92), Italian Alessandro Gentile ('92), Montenegrin Bojan Dubljevic ('91) and Turkish Furkan Aldemir ('91). In yesterday's contest Mirotic nailed 29 points (10/20 FG) and pulled down 11 boards, helped by Joventut Badalona's PG Josep Franch ('91): 19 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds. At the losing effort Riccardo Moraschini ('91) had 17 points and 6/8 FG, while Gentile added 14, but 5/15 FG and 7 turnovers. For more details of the game (and the rest of the journey) check our Twitter (we were in Bilbao updating).

 

In the game for the Bronze medal France beat Russia (66-50) with 20 points and 3/4 threes from Fournier, helped by Leo Westermann ('92): 11 and 3/3 from downtown. At the losing effort 6'9'' PF Nikita Balashov ('91) scored 15 with 3/5 threes. Germany finished fifth after defeating Turkey (60-49) with a good job from NCAA current Champion Niels Giffey ('91): 20 points, 6 steals, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. At the other side 6'11'' Sertac Sanli ('91) tallied 18 with 3/4 from downtown. Montenegro ended seventh after beating Latvia (85-76), led by Dubljevic (26 points and 13 boards). For Latvia Arturs Bricis ('92) had 23 with 4/10 threes.

 

In the bottom of the standings Lithuania sent Austria to Division "B" after winning (78-62) behind Giedrius Staniulis ('91): 17 points and 18 rebounds. Austrian Anton Maresch ('91) scored 18 with 5 boards. Finally Serbia stopped Croatia (63-81), a team already in Division "B". Nemanja Nedovic ('91) led the win with 15 points in 18 minutes. 6'11'' Domagoj Bubalo ('91) scored 19 (8/12 FG) at the losing effort.

 

Final standings: 1-Spain, 2-Italy, 3-France, 4-Russia, 5-Germany, 6-Turkey, 7-Montenegro, 8-Latvia, 9-Sweden, 10-Ukraine, 11-Slovenia, 12-Greece, 13-Serbia, 14-Lithuania, 15-Austria and 16-Croatia.

 

Stats:

Points:Nikola Mirotic (Spain, '91) 27.0

Rebounds: Furkan Aldemir (Turkey, '91) 15.9

Assists: Josep Franch (Spain, '91) 5.1

Steals: Evan Fournier (France, '92) 1.9

Blocks: Artem Pustovyi (Ukraine, '92) 2.4

 

For the rest of stats please go here.

 

Photo: Jonatan Gonzalez