By Luca Virgilio
Intense journey here in Mannheim for the second day of the AST2014. Yesterday Eurohopes was at Waldsporthalle to follow group C/D games:
Group C:
France – Chile 67-68 OT
Incredible game at Waldsporthalle with Chile that overcome France after one overtime. Physical mismatches were clear inside the area with Ywen Smock (PF, 205 cm, 1996, Centre Federal de Basket), Alpha Kaba (F, 203 cm, 1996, Orthez), Cyril Eliezer –Vanerot (SG, 197 cm, 1996, Centre Federal de Basket) and Antoine Wallez (PF, 205 cm, 1996, Le Mans) that were too big for Chile but intensity really was the key of the game. France team played too soft, not taking advantage of the physical prowess meanwhile Chilefought on every single game possession. Nicolas Aguirre (PM, 176 cm, 1998, Deportes Castro), 2 year younger that his opponents, played with incredible confidence taking every time the right decision on the court. In the last U16 Fiba Americas Championship he averaged 18 points, 5.8 rebounds and 6 assists with 43% from 3. Future could be very bright for Chilean Steve Nash. Interesting low post attitude from Nicolas Carvacho (PF, 206 cm, 1997, Frisco HS) and notable mention for Sebastian Herrera (SG, 193 cm, 1997, Universidad Catolica), he is looking for HS in USA, that scored a couple of triple (3/12 from 3) that killed the game.
France: Wallez 17 pts, 5 rebs; Cavaliere 10; Kaba 6 pts, 5rebs.
Chile: Herrera 22 pts; Aguirre 16 pts, 6 rebs, 8 ass; Carvacho 10 pts, 8 rebs.
USA – Ukraine 90-75
USA easily won the game over Ukraine thanks to the different size under the boards, with 62 rebounds against 36 at the end of the 40 minutes. Wisconsin commit Ethan Happ (PF, 200 cm, 1996) put all his aggressiveness and his abilities to understand the game on the court ending with 11/17 from 2. Shavar Newkirk (G, 180 cm, 1996, Cardinal Heyes HS) is the playmaker of the team with turbo legs, fast hands in defense and unstoppable 1vs1 from the dribble. From Ukraine shined the athletic guard Oleksandr Kobets (SG, 193 cm, 1996, Cherkassy) that scored 34 points with 6/9 from 3. Good game also from Swiatoslav Mikhailiuk (SG, 200 cm, 1997, Cherkassy) that after a good training camp in Portland for the Nike Hoop Summit last week, showed once again all his talent. USA interchanged different players on him with aggressive “face on face” defensebut Mikhailiuk found ways to be dangerous from outside (very fast shot release) and inside (physically able to fight against American).
USA: Happ 24 pts, 9 rebs; Williams 14 pts, 7 rebs; Newkirk 10 pts, 12 rebs, 6 ass
Ukraine: Kobets 34 pts, 7 rebs; Mikhailiuk 18 pts, 8 rebs; Slivancanin 9 pts.
Group D:
Italy – Bosnia 85 - 66
Italy stays perfect with the second easy game in a row defeating 85-66 Bosnia. Federico Mussini (PG, 187 cm, 1996, Reggio Emilia) is a skinny guard with a reliable 3 points shot, perfect to run in open space and with a good feeling for spectacular plays. Good game also from lefty fancy guard Diego Flaccadori (PG, 190 cm, 1996, Excelsior Bergamo) that scored 13 points with 3 assists and 5 steals: good vision of the game, high IQ and an interesting body with long arms and legs but he need to improve his right hand to enhance his unpredictability on the floor. Key player for Italy is solid forward Daniel Donzelli (F, 200 cm, 1996, Casalpusterlengo): he is the leader and the best area player in the Italian roster.
From Bosnia right handed guard Edin Atic (SG, 200 cm, 1997, Spars) showed once again his propensity to score: he is a good shooter both from catch and shoot and dribble situations, he runs the court very well thanks to a light body. Nedim Dedovic (SF, 205 cm, 1997, FC Barcelona), as often happens, has alternated good things and long pauses: great offensive potential but he must learn to stay in the game for 40 minutes and not to turn off the light.
Italy: Mussini 24 pts; Donzelli 15 pts, 8 rebs; Flaccadori 13 pts.
Bosnia: Atic 15 pts, 9 rebs; Memic 9 pts; Dedovic 8 pts
Spain – China 100-71
Spain won without problems 100-71 over China and today will fight against Italy for the first place in Group D. Yankuba Sima (C, 207 cm, 1996, CB Academy) showed all his athletic power under the boards with powerful dunks and blocks scoring 18 points with 14 rebounds: physically speaking he is very reactive and explosive with long and skinny legs, he is working to improve his mid range shot.
Notable notice for the athletic 6’7’’ guard with a well developed physical structure Carlos Martinez (SF, 200 cm, 1996, Caja Laboral) that scored 14 points and also for the smart forward Marc Bauza (PF, 206 cm, 1996, Joventut Badalona) that ended the game with 16 points and 6 rebounds.
Spain: Sima 18 pts, 14 rebs; Bauza 16 pts, 6 rebs; Oroz 15 pts, 7 ass.
China: Zhao 15 pts; Fu 15 pts; Hu 10 pts, 8 rebs.
These are the results from group A/B games:
Group A:
Sweden – Argentina 83 -66
Sweden: Hakanson 28 pts, 7 rebs, 9 ass; Uthmann 12 pts, 9 rebs; Drammeh 12 pts.
Argentina: Gerhardt 18 pts, 7 rebs; Gomez 14 pts; Buemo 7 pts
England – Serbia 60-64
England: Ogunleye 16 pts; Yeboah 13 pts; Akodo 10 pts
Serbia: Dokovic 11 pts; Stranivecic 10 pts; Pavlovic 9pts, 11 rebs.
Group B:
Turkey – Japan 147 -69
Turkey: Korkmaz 27 pts, 7 rebs; Guven 20 pts, 10 rebs; Cevik 18 pts.
Japan: Hachimura 17 pts; Maki 14 pts; Motomura 9 pts
Germany – Slovenia 75-49
Germany: Agva 16 pts, 12 rebs; Hasbargen 15 pts; Lamp 10 pts.
Slovenia: Kodrin 10 pts; Grubelic 7 pts; Sajevic 7pts.
Schedule of today:
14:00 England – Sweden and China – Bosnia
16:00 Slovenia – Japan and Ukraine – Chile
18:00 Serbia – Argentina and Italy – Spain
20:00 Turkey – Germany and USA - France
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Photo: CBA
