Some days ago Spain won the U20 Division "A" European Championship of Bilbao after beating Italy in the big final. Today, in Wroclaw (Poland), the kids coached by Luis Guil followed the way of their big brothers taking the Gold of the U18 Division "A" European Championship. Spain defeated Serbia (65-71) after a tied contest, where shined Real Madrid 6'2'' PG Jorge Sanz ('93), who scored 22 points and pulled down 6 rebounds. Beside him Unicaja Malaga 6'6'' SF Álex Abrines ('93) added 16, with 5 rebounds and 4 blocks. He was selected MVP of the event, in his first official appearance with a NT, after averaging 13.1 points (42% from downtown), 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals. At the losing effort Hemofarm 6'8'' PF Luka Mitrovic ('93) and Mega Vizura 6'3'' PG Vasilije Micic ('94) had 13 apiece. Who were selected in the All-Tournament Team? Abrines, his teammate Daniel Diez ('93), Micic, his teammate Nenad Miljenovic ('93) and Polish Przemek Karnowski ('93).
In the game for the Bronze Turkey beat Italy (65-69) behind Tayfun Erülkü ('94). The guard ended with 12 points and 4 steals. At Italian side Francesco Veccia ('93) had 14 and 4 rebounds. Lithuania finished fifth after beating Poland (66-78) with a good job from 6'9'' Simonas Kymantas ('93): 18 points and 8 rebounds. At the losing effort (big upset for hosts in this tournament) Michal Michalak ('93) scored 12 and grabbed 7 boards. France has ended seventh, winning Croatia (80-61) behind Mouhammadou Jaiteh ('94): 18 points, 17 rebounds. At the other side Matej Buovac ('93) had 12 with 4/6 threes.
Ninth position for Russia after beating Latvia (58-64). Huge contest for Vlad Trushkin ('93) with 15 points and 16 rebounds. Latvian Guntis Sipolins ('93) tallied 10, pulling down 7 boards. Germany ended eleventh after defeating Slovenia (73-86) behind Dennis Schröder ('93) -22 points and 8 assists- and Bogdan Radosavljevic ('93), with 21 and 8 boards. In the battle for the relegation, with Finland and Czech Republic already down, Ukraine beat czechs (87-73) with Volodymyr Gerun ('94) collecting a huge double-double (25 points and 10 rebounds), while Czech Tomas Kyzlink ('93) scored 16 and grabbed 7 rebounds. In the other contest Greece beat Finland (55-68). Giannoulis Larentzakis ('93), with 23 points and 9 rebounds, and Ilari Seppälä ('93), with 17 and 3/8 threes, best scorers at both sides.
Final standings: 1-Spain, 2-Serbia, 3-Turkey, 4-Italy, 5-Lithuania, 6-Poland, 7-France, 8-Croatia, 9-Russia, 10-Latvia, 11-Germany, 12-Slovenia, 13-Ukraine, 14-Greece, 15-Czech Republic and 16-Finland.
Stats
Points: Martin Kriz ('93, Czech Republic) 19.0
Rebounds: Martin Kriz ('93, Czech Republic) 11.7
Assists: Luka Rupnik ('93, Slovenia) 5.7
Steals: Klym Artamonov ('93, Ukraine) 3.3
Blocks: Volodymyr Gerun ('94, Ukraine) 2.1
Fore more stats go here.
Photo: Wojtek Figurski
