By Marti Artigas

 

Spain, recent U18 Albert Schweitzer Tournament champion, started some days ago its preparation for the Division "A" European Championship, that will start next week in Lithuania and Latvia. They won the gold medal last summer, and after the title earned in Mannheim they are one of the main favorites. Ilimane Diop ('95) and Willy Hernangómez ('94) are the bigger prospects of team coached by Jesus Sala, without forgetting pieces like Josep Pérez ('94), Albert Homs ('94), Juan Saiz ('94) and Oriol Pauli ('94). Last week they won the tournament held in Linares after beating Poland, Russia and France. Let's check what happened there.

 

In the opener spaniards crashed Poland (75-47) behind Hernangómez, who ended with a double-double (17 points and 10 rebounds) in only 25 minutes. Also shined Javi Marin ('94), with 15 and 6/10 FG, and Saiz (14 with 7/8 twos). At polish side Jakub Garbacz ('94) nailed  11 with 5/7 FG. In the second journey they had more problems, beating Russia in the overtime (66-65). Saiz led the winners with 11 points, 10 boards and 5 blocks, while Marin added 10 with 4/5 FG. For russians Stanislav Ilnitskiy ('94) fought with 22 points and 11 rebounds. In the last day they faced France in the final: 55-52 and title. Diop appeared to hurt with 7 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks, while Homs scored 10 pulling down 3 boards. Kevin Harley ('94) finished as the best french scorer with 11 points, even 4/12 FG and 6 turnovers.

 

Other results:

Russia-France (57-65)  

France-Poland (63-51) 

Poland-Russia (48-66)

 

Final standings: 1-Spain (3-0), 2-France (2-1), 3-Russia (1-2), 4-Poland (0-3).

 

Twitter of the author: @marti_artigas

 

Photo: cablinares.es (Hernangómez and Marin)