Spain and Croatia will play today the final of the U14 Slovenia Ball, held in Slovenj Gradec (Slovenia), after arriving to the last day as the only unbeaten teams in the event with a 5-0 record. Both squads are showing interesting prospects such as Jonathan Barreiro ('97), Dragan Bender ('97) or Matej Gaspert ('97). The best individual performance of the third journey was also for a croatian. 5'11'' lefty guard Julijan Zadravec ('97) led his team to the win over Slovenia Green in the best game of the tournament, ending with 34 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. He nailed 5/8 threes, three of them in the last minutes. Eurohopes staff is in the slovenian city updating you. Let's check what happened yesterday in all six games.
-Slovenia Blue 49 Spain 74: Spaniards remain unbeaten after another show, in this case against a team that fought in the first two quarters with a tough defense. With Barreiro and Álvaro Reyes ('97) playing outside Spain was clearly best. Even that slovenians battled with shooters Nejc Martincic ('97) and Marko Travica ('97), arriving at half time one point up. But in the third and fourth quarters they couldn't keep the defensive effort and the shooting success at the same level, even 6'6'' Urban Durnik ('97) tried to avoid that with good moves at the post. Barreiro led the victory with 15 points and 7 rebounds, while Juan Oliva ('97) added 12 points and Samuel Rodriguez ('97) did a good job inside with 7 and 4 boards. At the losing effort Martincic had 11 points and 1 rebound, Blaz Mesicek ('97) 9 points with 1 rebound and 1 assist and finally Travica ended with 7 and 1 board.
-Slovenia Green 44 Estonia 46: First win for the estonians, with a surprising start and slovenian kids missing too many shots (7-25). In the second period they reacted with a 13-2 run. The injury of Martin Ütsmüts ('97) and the fifth foul of Norman Kabin ('97) didn't help Estonia, but the job of their teammates at both sides was great. Some minutes with a lot of turnovers made slovenians enter the game again. Four points in a row from Marko Matijevic ('97) and eight free throws in a row missed by estonians balanced the score. In the last seconds 6'2'' Robert Valge ('97) scored from downtown and later added one free throw more to kill the contest. Best scorers? At estonian side Valge had 12 points and 2 rebounds, Ivalo Pajumets ('97) 9 with 3 boards and 1 assist and finally Ütsmüts 8 points and 4 rebounds. At the winning effort Tadej Tabak ('97) had 9 points, 5 rebounds and 1 steal, Matijevic added 7 with 3 boards and Aljaz Primozic ('97) 3 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists.
-Montenegro 31 Spain 85: After lunch we went back to the gym to see spaniards crashing Montenegro, even they made a great game against Croatia the day before. At half time they were already winning by 34 points (18-52). Many spanish prospects shining: Oliva using his body inside the paint, David Ramos ('97) running fastbreak and shooting from 4-5 meters, Barreiro hurting close to basket... At the other side youngsters Ognjen Carapic ('98), a skinny PG, and Gavrilo Vujacic ('98) are sending us great details. Oliva led the win with 18 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals, while Ramos added 14 points, 6 boards and 2 steals and Barreiro 12 points and 2 boards. At the losing effort Carapic scored 7 points with 1 rebound, Vujacic 6 with 3 boards and Petar Saltic ('97) 3 with 4 rebounds.
-Croatia 94 Slovenia Blue 56: Croatians showed again their quality, with a great intensity during all the contest and big players making a good job inside the paint. Bender and Gaspert damaged a lot close to basket, while Zadravec scoring and finishing lay-ups with both hands (he is lefty from downtown and free throws line). 6'5'' PF Domagoj Vrkic ('97) also shined (skinny but with good legs). At slovenian squad Martincic and Aljaz Marinc ('97) outside and Durnik inside fought with no luck. Who ended as the best scorers? For Croatia Vrkic had 16 points, while Bended added 14 with 8 rebounds and Zadravec 12 points, 4 boards and 2 steals. At the losing effort Marinc scored 18, Travica 9 points with 6 rebounds and 3 steals and Durnik 8 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks.
-Macedonia 55 Montenegro 48: First win for Macedonia in a game with many mistakes at both sides and really tied. In the third quarter macedonians, led by 5'10'' Dejan Srbinovski ('97) and youngster Nenad Dimitrijevic ('98), took differences in the score. Montenegro tried to come back behind Vujacic and Gordan Glomazic ('97), hurting inside the paint. But not enough. The threes of Nikola Lucic ('97), either. Srbinovski ended with 16 points, 4 rebounds and 1 steal, while Dimitrijevic had 13 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals and Oliver Dvojakovski ('97) added 4 points, 6 boards and 2 blocks. At the losing effort Vujacic collected a double-double (14 points and 12 rebounds), Glomazic was close (8 points and 10 boards) and Lucic had 10 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist.
-Croatia 86 Slovenia Green 79: Big contest, the best of the event till then. In the last game of the journey we saw a great show, with Croatia winning led by Zadravec (34 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals). The two first quarters were for the slovenians, with a good defense and scoring easy. After the half time croatians started to come back, arriving to the last period with a tied score. Bender's law inside the paint became one of the keys, like Zadravec and his 5/8 behind the arc. Bender collected a huge double-double (15 points, 10 boards and 1 block) and Gaspert added 4 points and 5 rebounds. At the losing effort 5'10'' guard David Drame ('97) -strong legs, with intensity at both sides- scored 3/4 from downtown in clutch time, finishing with 23 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist. His teammate Zan Mark Sisko ('97) also made a good job (11 points, 3/6 threes, 1 rebound and 1 assist), showing his skills with skinny arms and legs, while Tadej Tabak ('97) ended with 9 points, 2 rebounds and 1 steal.
Standings: Spain and Croatia (5-0), Slovenia Blue (3-2), Slovenia Green (2-3), Macedonia and Estonia (1-4) and Montenegro (1-5).
Photo: Eurohopes (Macedonia NT)
