Hristo Zahariev (198-G/F-90) is the top scorer of U18 European Championship division A in Amalaida and Pyrgos. Zahariev poured in 115 points for six games which is 19.2 ppg. His competition-high was 32 points against Belgium in Classification Round. Unfortunately to Zahariev, his team finished participation in Greece on 13th place.
Enes Kanter (205-C-92) of Turkey is the second scorer of the championship with 19.1 ppg in 8 games.
Hristo Zahariev (198-G/F-90) is the top scorer of U18 European Championship division A in Amalaida and Pyrgos. Zahariev poured in 115 points for six games which is 19.2 ppg. His competition-high was 32 points against Belgium in Classification Round. Unfortunately to Zahariev, his team finished participation in Greece on 13th place. Enes Kanter (205-C-92) of Turkey is the second scorer of the championship with 19.1 ppg in 8 games. He gave his best in the third game of Preliminary Round against Croatia. Kanter netted 31 points while his teams suffered defeat 81-91. Third place on the list of top scorers belongs to Mario Delas (210-C-90), who drained 18.6 ppg in 8 games. He touched 25 points twice on this championship.
At the same time Turkish player Enes Kanter got another award and this one is for the top rebounder of the championship which he earned grabbing great 14.6 rpg. Tautvydas Slezas (210-C-90) of Lithuania is on the second place with 12.4 rpg while Senna Hounhanou (194-G/F-90, agency: LBM Management) of Belgium has 10.7 rpg.
Toni Prostran (188-G-91) of Croatia is together with Tautvydas Slezas top assistant of U18 EC division A. Both of them had the same digit 5 apg. Bulgarian hot prospect Bozhidar Avramov (196-G-90) is third on this list with 4.5 apg.
Lithuanian center Donatas Motiejunas (214-C-90) is named to be the MVP of the championship dspite his team lost in the final against the hosts Greece. Motiejunas played 8 games in Amalaida and Pyrgos averaging 18.2 ppg, 10.2 rpg, 1.7 apg, 1.3 spg and 1.8 bpg.
Slovak Republic ended U18 European Championship division B in Debrecen without medal reaching fourth place but one of its players succeeded to grab the award for the top scorer of the competition. It is Richard Grznar (187-G-91), who drained 176 points for eight games in Debrecen (22 ppg). He demonstrated the best performance against Poland in Qualifying Group F when he spent 35 minutes on court netting 32 points. One point less he scored against Georgia in third game of the Preliminary Round.
Slovak Republic ended U18 European Championship division B in Debrecen without medal reaching fourth place but one of its players succeeded to grab the award for the top scorer of the competition. It is Richard Grznar (187-G-91), who drained 176 points for eight games in Debrecen (22 ppg). He demonstrated the best performance against Poland in Qualifying Group F when he spent 35 minutes on court netting 32 points. One point less he scored against Georgia in third game of the Preliminary Round. Second scorer of the championship is Czech center Jan Vesely (210-F/C-90), who was totally the best player of his team in Debrecen adding 20.4 ppg. His competition-high happened in Qualification Round against Sweden when he netted 30 points. Later his team reached the final where Slovenia was too strong for them but anyway Czech Republic made big success advancing to Division A for the next European Championship. Third scorer of this championship is Romanian Rolland Torok (198-C-90), who posted 19.6 ppg in 8 games. His maximum was 32 points against England at the last game of Preliminary Round.
Rolland Torok got another award in Debrecin and this time as a top rebounder of the competition. He grabbed 102 boards in total which is 12.8 rpg in 8 appearances. Mads Frandsen (201-F-90) of Denmark was behind him with 11.4 while Jakub Wojciechowski (211-C-90) of Poland had 8.6 rpg.
The title for the best 'stealer' belongs to Diogo Correia (185-G-90), who had 4.1 spg. Another Portuguese is on this list and it is Jose Barbosa, who made 3.1 spg, while Andrew Lawrence averaged 2.7 spg.
Interesting is that Czech guard Tomas Satoransky (196-G/F-91, agency: PPGroup) is named to be the MVP of U18 European Championship division B.
Division A. Finals
by Eurobasket News - Aug 3, 2008
Final
Greece U18 - Lithuania U18 57:50
Greek Junior National Team made the final step towards the European crown. Today they defeated Lithuanian counterparts to become the European champions. Konstantinos Sloukas (192-G-90) netted 16 points for Greek team as they held off dangerous Lithuanian side and posted their 8th straight victory at the tournament. Lithuania jumped to an early 6:0 lead.
Final Greece U18 - Lithuania U18 57:50 Greek Junior National Team made the final step towards the European crown. Today they defeated Lithuanian counterparts to become the European champions. Konstantinos Sloukas (192-G-90) netted 16 points for Greek team as they held off dangerous Lithuanian side and posted their 8th straight victory at the tournament. Lithuania jumped to an early 6:0 lead. Donatas Motiejunas (214-C-90) and Mantas Kadzevicius soon stretched the margin to 9 points 11:2 but Greece did not panic. They cut the deficit to 5 points and continued to get closer right after the first intermission. A 10:2 rally from the hosts allowed them to claim a 21:18 advantage midway through the second frame. Kristijonas Gaska (188-G-90) retained the advantage for Lithuania late in the period but it was Nikolaos Pappas (194-G-90, agency: FCM) who drained a trey and gave Greece a 27:25 halftime lead. The teams kept it close throughout the third term but three-point bombs from Konstantinos Sloukas and Konstantinos Papanikolaou (203-F/G-90) extended Greek advantage to 7 points with under a minute to go in the frame. The home side mounted the pressure on Lithuania as they went on a 7:0 run and cleared off to a 10-point distance in the fourth quarter. Gediminas Bertasius and Donatas Motiejunas trimmed the distance to 6 points but Lithuania simply ran out of time to get any closer and Greece triumphed at the end. Nikolaos Pappas had 14 points and 7 boards for Greece. Konstantinos Papanikolaou added 10 points in a winning case. Donatas Motiejunas responded with 17 points and 12 boards for Lithuania. Kristijonas Gaska contributed 9 points in a losing case. The teams were almost equally matched in the majority of the game facets however Lithuania shot woefully from beyond the arc converting just 2/21 attempts.
3rd-4th spots Croatia U18 - France U18 73:68 Croatian Junior National Team earned the Bronze medals at the European Championship in Greece. Earlier today they held off France in the consolation final. Mario Delas (210-C-90) produced 18 points and 14 boards to pace Croatia to the hard-fought victory. Croatia got to a better start as they kept in front throughout the opening frame. Ivan Ramljak (203-F-90) capped the quarter with 6 straight points and Croatia enjoyed a 20:13 advantage at the first intermission. Croatia stretched the margin to 11 points midway through the second term and then drove to a 14-point cushion at the interval. Ivan Ramljak opened the second half with 5 points as the margin grew to 16 points. However points from Chrislain Cairo and Nicolas Lang (195-G-90) and back-to-back three-pointers from Jonathan Bourhis (183-G-90) cut the deficit to 6 points. Jonathan Bourhis finalized the third term with another trey and France trailed 54:60 heading into the fourth quarter. The teams traded baskets in the final quarter and France eventually managed to get within a single point with 20 seconds remaining. But Croatia survived the threat as Toni Prostran knocked down 4 freebies in the final seconds and sealed the winning outcome for Croatia. Josip Bilinovac (190-G-90) and Ivan Ramljak had 16 points for the winners. Nicolas Lang nailed 15 points to lead France. Jonathan Bourhis and Alexis Tanghe (207-F/C-90) had 11 points apiece in defeat. Croatia outrebounded their opponents 47:37 and held French players to 38% accuracy from the field.
5th-6th spots Spain U18 - Serbia U18 89:85 Spanish Junior National Team narrowly defeated Serbia to clinch the 5th spot at the European Championship. The victory also meant Spain qualified for the U19 World Championship that would be held in New Zealand next year. The game turned into a seesaw action with both teams enjoying big lead as well as trailing by big numbers. Spain looked better in the starting period and built a 25:15 advantage at the intermission. Serbia went on a 25:5 rally in the second frame to grab a 40:34 advantage. Bojan Subotic (204-F/C-90) and Andreja Milutinovic connected from beyond the arc and Serbia rolled to a 46:39 lead at the sides change. Spain used a 9:0 run in the third period to regain the lead. Ivan Martinez and Adrian Laso (204-F/C-90) crowned the third frame with consecutive triples and Spanish team piled up a 67:60 advantage at three-quarter time. Riznic and Aleksandar Vlahovic (193-G-90) teamed up for 6 points to give Serbia a 73:71 lead midway through the final term. The lead then changed hands for several times before Perez and Franch drained big-time three-pointers and secured an unassailable lead for Spain. Serbia cut the deficit to one point but failed to succeed at the end. Six Spanish players scored in double figures en route to the win. Alberto Jodar (205-F/C-91) paced the winners with 17 points. Ignacio Llovet (202-C-91) netted 16 points, while Adrian Laso added 15 points and 10 rebounds in a win. Bojan Subotic replied with 21 points and 11 boards for Serbia. Uros Petrovic (206-F/C-90) and Aleksandar Vlahovic had 15 points apiece in a loss.
7th-8th spots Latvia U18 - Russia U18 71:69 It was once again a story of dramatic finale when Russian and Latvian U18 National Teams played for the 7th spot today. Latvia managed to overcome a 6-point halftime deficit to pull away with a last second victory against their opponents. The teams met earlier in the competition and then Latvia killed Russian hopes to qualify to the semifinal by narrowly defeating them. Today Russia failed to take revenge. Latvia entered the final period ahead by 5 points. The teams traded baskets throughout the fourth stanza and Slepukha cut the deficit to 2 points with less than 3 minutes remaining. Maxim Grigoryev followed it with a freebie to trim the distance to minimum. Martins Laksa (196-F-90) however responded with a jumper to give Latvia a 70:67 lead with one and a half minute remaining. Maxim Grigoryev got fouled and hit both free throws to narrow the distance. Kalvis Krumins (182-G-90) dropped just free throw and Russia had 7 seconds to save the game. Denis Polokhin got the ball but his buzzer-beating layup rimmed out and Latvia scored another dramatic win over Russia at the tournament. Kristers Zeidaks (201-F-90) provided 17 points for Latvia. Kalvis Krumins knocked down 15 points, while Martins Laksa had 14 points in a win. Pavel Antipov (200-F-91) was the only player to score in double figures for Russia. He nailed 13 points and pulled down 6 boards in defeat.
9th-10th spots Turkey U18 - Israel U18 95:72 Turkish Junior National Team finalized their European Championship with a comprehensive win over Israel. Enes Kanter (205-C-92) tallied a massive double-double of 22 points and 25 rebounds to pace Turkey to the 9th overall spot at the tournament. Turkey had an overwhelming dominance throughout the game and easily secured a comfortable victory at the end. Turkey established a 19:12 advantage ten minutes into the action. Consecutive triples from Can Maxim Mutaf (193-G-91) allowed Turkey to build a 29:13 buffer midway through the second frame. Mahmutoglu capped the first half with a three-pointer and Turkey left into the dressing room leading by 15 points. Volkan Incekara (192-G-90), Enes Kanter and Erolcan Cinko stretched the margin to 26 points in the third term. The advantage was pretty obvious but Turkey never loosened the grip and cruised to a stunning win at the end. Can Maxim Mutaf provided 16 points for Turkey. Volkan Incekara had 11 points, while Ibrahim Yildirim knocked down 10 in a win. Ben Reis (196-F-90) answered with game-high 27 points for Israel. Tal Karpelesz (194-F-90) dropped 12 points in a losing effort. Turkey outrebounded their counterparts 50:26 and sank 53% from the field. Israel answered with 44% field goal accuracy and forced Turkey to 23 turnovers down the stretch.
