Brazil - Mexico 104:90
Brazil snapped their losing skid beating Mexico yesterday. The win came after two losses from USA and Puerto Rico and imrpoved Brazilian chances to advance to the semis. Brazil dominated the first three frames of the encounter and deservedly secured the winning outcome at the end.
This time Brazil did not depend on just Leandrinho Barbosa (190-G-82)'s effort and five players finished scoring in double figures.
Mexico kept it close in the starting frame and trailed by just 2 points 22:24. But Nene Hilario (207-C-82) and Murilo da Rosa (207-C-83) lifted their side to a 53:39 advantage at halftime. Mexico tried to come back in this one as Romel Beck (203-G/F-82, agency: HM Sports Agency, college: UNLV) was deadly from all the ranges but it was not enough to spark Mexican team. Leandrinho Barbosa delivered 3/4 three pointers and sealed the win for Brazil in the contest. He led Brazil with 21 points.

Nene Hilario contributed 17 points and 7 boards for the winners. Romel Beck once again was the topscorer for Mexico with 29 points. Adam Parada (213-C-81, college: Cal-Irvine) had 17 points and 10 boards in a losing effort.
Brazil showed a high shooting accuracy as they converted 60% from close range, 47% from beyond the arc and 75% from free throw line. Brazilian players also outrebounded their opponents 39:35 and forced those to 19 turnovers.
Brazil will next face Argentina in highly anticipated encounter later today.

Brazil: Leandrinho Barbosa 21, Nene Hilario 17+7 boards
Mexico: Romel Beck 29, Adam Parada 17+10 boards

Bulgarian champion and National Cup holder Lukoil Akademik has a new playmaker. His name is Antonio Burks. He will take the place of Lamont Jones in the starting line-up of the team. Burks is 183 cm tall - the same like Professor Jones. But Antonio is 8 years younger than 35-years old American veteran. In Lukoil will try to build a new, young selection for the future. That was the reason they let Jones to leave and sign in Israel after three successful years together.
27-years old former guard of Orlando, Memphis and Miami in NBA - Burks already signed a contract with the best Bulgarian club in the last five-six seasons. Antonio decided to say “yes” to “The Students”, because of their big ambitions for the next season. Lukoil is the only one Bulgarian club which will participate in ULEB Cup. Akademik will play in the tournament for 5th time in a row. “The Students” have three 1/8 finals there. Only last season they failed ro continue after the first phase.
Last season Burks started with Miami Heat, but in October was cut and signed for the first time of his professional career in Europe - in Red Star Belgrade. It's interesting, because the main sponsor of this Serbian team is Lukoil and the owner of his new Bulgarian home - Akademik is Lukoil again.

All the host teams won its games, Bucaros took revenge of the lost against Soles and defeated them , Arrieros again defeated Piratas, and Indervalle won its first back to back games against Condores.

Bucaros 105 - Lorenzo Trudo 28 Pts
Soles 78

Arrieros 79 - Jermaine Walker 29 pts
Piratas 62

Indervalle 115
Condores 73

Standings:
1-Soles 5-3 13 pts
2-Bucaros 5-1- 11 pts
3-Arrieros 5-1 11 pts
4-Piratas 3-5 11 pts
5-Indervalle 3-3 9 pts
6-Condores 1-7 9 pts
7-Alcaldia de tunja 2-4 8 pts

Best Scorers:
Allens Jemmott (Matanzas) 41,0

Tomas Garcia (Las Tunas) 32,0
Andy Boffill (Villa Clara) 28,0
Henry Simon (199-F-79) (Holguin) 27,5
Alexander Guillen (Granma) 25,5
Yoanis Soria (Guantanamo) 24,2

Rebounds:
Giordano Leguen (Capitalinos) 9,7
Alexander Guillen (Granma) 9,5
Orestes Torres (Capitalinos) 9,0
Humberto Garcia (La Habana) 8,0
Antonio Sanchez (Granma9 8,0

Assists:
Manuel Arias (Santiago de Cuba) 6,0
Junior Donatien (Granma) 4,5
Honay Calzada (Guantanamo) 3,7
Jaime Bell (Santiago de Cuba) 3,3

Blocks:
Eddy Hechevarria (Santiago de Cuba) 2,0
A. Fontana

At 14 years old, I was six feet seven inches. When I was in form one, I was about 5' 7" or 5 ' 8". Then between that period to form two, I grew to about 6' 3" in that summer. And from then on, I started shooting up two, three inches, sometime four in a summer. Now, I am seven feet ....and still growing."

Kyle Rowley's ultimate goal is to grow into an NBA player. On realising that he was growing bigger than the average teenager, Rowley reasoned that he was getting too big for football, and logically switched to basketball. Since then he has been recruited by an American high school, has attracted interest from several top American colleges, and dreams of making a name in American basketball and ultimately being a National Basketball Association (NBA) professional. The journey has only just begun.

"I started playing basketball pretty recently, because I was a 14-year-old when I was first introduced to the game," he says. "Right now, I am 17. I started playing basketball with Joseph 'Lenny' Guy, so it was he who first introduced me to the game."

Kyle grew up in Santa Rosa Springs, Arima, with his mom Cheryl, 11-year-old brother Dominic and dad Keith Rowley. He attended St Mary's College, where he obtained nine subjects, including five distinctions. He played just one year basketball with CIC, who played unbeaten, winning the under-20 division of the NGC/Express School Basketball League. However, a five-game season seemed woefully inadequate to what Kyle has experienced in his year at an American high school.

"For the past two seasons my high school have won our conference.An average regular season is about 30 games, and this year our team went 19 (wins) and 11. We usually have preseason games, which are about five or six. And, after that, we go to the club level where we play seven or eight games per weekend, and that goes on probably a month and a half to two months. So, you find at club level we probably play close to 40 or 45 games."


Kyle's introduction to basketball was through the Millennium Basketball Academy Programme run by former national player and coach Guy, and his partner Albert Lee Young. Through the programme, Kyle was able to learn the game's fundamentals and was spotted by coaches in the United States when the Academy made their annual Easter tour. He hasn't a moment of regret since.

"I used to play soccer before I started playing basketball. My dad thought it was a good idea for me to take up basketball because I started growing at such a rapid rate. The first time I actually walked into a court, I didn't know what to expect. I was all new to me. I walked in and started doing all the drills and stuff, and I thought it was really challenging. But, I kept on going and as the weeks passed and the months passed, I started seeing a lot of improvement. The following year we made a trip to Texas with the Millennium Basketball camp, Lenny Guy's group, and that is when the I first realised that I could go to the 'States, study, and play basketball"

Described as a big baby by his father, Kyle says that he had not been away from home at any point in his life and his mother was not completely sold on the idea of him being away at the tender age of 16.

"But my mom began to realise how far I could reach with this thing after speaking to all the coaches and stuff. We went to an NBA game and we got a chance to go down on the tunnel at half-time....and meet the 'big boys' , and give them high fives and so on. That really opened up my eyes as to how far I could go, and coming back from that tour, I really revamped my chain of thought. So, I really started working harder and harder so that I could improve, and maybe one day play at that level."

Following the Texas trip, American coach William Colon visited Trinidad and had a work-out with the young player. The American then recommended him to the Lake Academy. After doing SATs to make sure he has the academic requirement to enter the American system, Kyle was accepted. His first challenge was dealing with a totally unknown environment.

"Lake Forrest Academy is a boarding school. So, 50 percent of the school population are boarding and live on campus, while the others live nearby. So, I would have been living in the dorms, and seeing about everything myself. I came from an environment where my mom used to do a lot of things for me. She used to wash my clothes and so on, so I had to learn to do a lot of things myself. It helped me grow up and be a lot more responsible in that short space of time."

On the court, Kyle was an instant success at Lake Forrest scoring an average 14 points, nine rebounds and three block shots, playing at the centre position or occasionally as a power forward. As a result, he started getting attention from all the top universities.

"Over the summer, there is this league called AU, which is club basketball. This summer I had a very successful stint and the likes of the University of Wisconsin, Southern Illinois, Baylor, Indiana, all showed interest in recruiting me to play basketball at the high Division One level. "

"Our team made it to the finals in one tournament; the final four in the next; and the sweet sixteen in the last tournament, which was the biggest one in Las Vegas. The one in Las Vegas had over 300 teams participating in that tournament, so it was a great accomplishment for me as well as the team, because I started both at my high school and at my club."

He also got the attention of the National Under-17 coaches and was on the T&T national team which recently played at the championship in Puerto Rico. He believes that inexperience was the greatest down fall of the local team, but with time felt they could grow to be very successful. Of his own aspirations, Kyle is still working hard at developing his skills and dreams of ultimately of growing into an NBA player. At the rate he is growing, the sky may be his only limit....trinidadexpress

Luxembourg will start today the U18 European Championship in La Valletta, Malta. Five teams will struggle for the best team among the small states. The tournament is scheduled from August 28 till September 1.

In the last Championship that was held in 2005 Luxembourg finished second. The team lost only one game and it was Scotland that upset Luxembourg 59:57. First four games were won by the team of Luxembourg and two of them did not bring any difficulties to them. At first Luxembourg smashed Wales 66:26 and then overwhelmed Gibraltar 94:16. Later the team beat Albania 77:68 and Malta 68:66.

This year Scotland is out of the Division C, so Luxembourg has all the chances to advance. Malta, being the host team of the tournament will be the only team against this rule.

Today Luxembourg faces Gibraltar in the opener at 16.45. Andorra and Malta will meet each other at 19.00, right after the first game. Principality of Monaco will start the competition tomorrow.

Luxembourg will have the following roster in the tournament:
Stephanie Gengler
Vicky Greischer
Lena Hetto
Sandie Lorsche
Celine Marcus
Jana Putz
Sophie Scheider
Michelle Schenten
Paulina Simonne Scheuren
Florence Welsch
Laura Ute Wilwert
Julie Zovile

Andorra-Malta 37:48 (12-5, 0-13, 10-14, 15-16)

Malta won the opener of U18 European Championship. In the first game for the teams and the second of day 1 Malta overcame Andorra 48:37. A 13:0 in the second quarter brought the hosts the positive result. Grima led the winners with 15 points. Muscat made 16 rebounds, while Moore had 4 assists. Pla top-scored for Andora with 14 points.

After trailing 12:5 after the opening quarter, the Maltese hit back in style scoring thirteen points without reply in the second session to take an 18:12 lead at half-time. That was so called record when the team stays scoreless in the quarter. However after -7 in the beginning of the game made the hosts angry.

Malta kept control of the match on the restart and went on to extend their advantage to 32:22 at the start of the final session. With 16:15 in the last Malta led to 48:37 in the end of the game.

Today Malta will have a day-off as there are 5 teams in the group. Andorra will face Gibraltar for the first win in the group for both teams. The spectators will be able to see another team, Monaco that starts the tournament today.

Andorra: Pla 14, Vicente 16 rebs+6 ast
Malta: Grima 15, Muscat 16 rebs, Moore 4 ast