EUROBASKET NEWS REPORT - 9/30/2007
Copyright © 1997-2007 EurobasketMen News
*****************************************************In the honor of one of the best European players of all times, Mirza Delibasic Kindje, a memorial tournament was open yesterday in Sarajevo. Many Kindje`s friends came to pay tribute to him. All of three guest teams at this year`s tournament are lead by former Bosna players and coaches. Fenerbahce/Ulker is coached by Bogdan Tanjevic. Braunschweig by Emir Mutapcic, while FMP is led by Ratko Radovanovic.
In the first game of day one, FMP blew out Fenerbahce vinning by 30 points (96:67). The second game Bosna - Braunschweig drew more attention and spectators. Team from Sarajevo introduced its new team for the season 2007/08. For the first time in club`s history they played with four Americans on its roster. Bosna won by 88:74 (51:33). The best Bosna player was Edin Bavcic with 20 points and an excellent overall game. Lance Williams also played huge for the host as well as Kyle Hill. New point guard Bailey seems to be a great addition to the team. Although he came to Sarajevo just two days ago, he played very well and gained appreciation from the home crowd. Unfortunatelly, the fourth American, Quemont Greer, a great player does not seem a good fit to Bosna. After practicing with the team for a month and a half he has not shown much so far. From friendly games with Split, Osijek, tournaments in Pirot, Split and France through yesterday Greer had only one strong game. It was at a tournament in France when he scored 23 points. It appears that Greer is a great player who has not adapted well to the European style of basketball. To make things worse, Greer plays at the same position as Bavcic and American can play neither SF nor C. It`s hard to imagine Greer staying much longer with the team.
Tonight Bosna plays vs. FMP at 20:15.
Tournament 1st Day
During the first day of the tournament the host team of Strovolos, Keravnos and Koukoulekidis team Pizza Express Apollonas Limasol werte the winners over Maccabi Rishon Le Zion and Ydra Asfalistiki ENAD Agiou Dhometiou, respectively. The final results were: Pizza Express Apollon - Enad 73 - 67 and Keravnos - Maccabi 80 - 73.
It is mentioned here that the Strovolos team played without their second American Cedrik Henderson against their ex head coach's team Azulay and their ex player Jerrel Blasingame. The quarters were: 19-20, 43-35, 62-61 and 80-73. The scorers for the home team were: Giannas Panagiotis 5, Lee Patrick 17 (3), Kosanovic Predrag 5(1), Bocevski Dusan 2, Ivan Vukadinov (193-G-81) Ivan 12 (2), Damjanovic Aleksandar 10, Vidakovic Domagoi 4, Panagiotis Trisokkas (206-C-80) 14, Anastasiades George 11 (2), Zachariou Alexis, Aristodemou Charalambos. Top scorer and performer was the American guard Patrick Lee (187-G-75, college: Va Commonwealth) which seems to be in a mood and will help coach Frangias team very much. Very good performance by the two Cypriot Internationals, Trisokkas and Giorgos Anastasiadis (194-G/F-77) (as always) while the newcomer ex power forward of Pizza Express Apollon, Aleksandar Damjanovic (206-C/F-73) showed that he will help a lot his new team in the coming seazon the same goes for teh ex Larissa player Vukadinoc.
Transfer news of last minute
Grigoris Pantouris (190-G/F-82) is most probably leaving Dentalcon Apoel Nicosia as the club owes him a lot of money and he is considering legal measures agaisnt them.
Dimitris Prokopiou (187-G-83) agreed terms with Anagennises Yermasogeias
1.DIV.: Round 1: The new season 2007-08 got started on Saturday with two contests. FoKoPo (Forssa) visited in Turku and defeated YMCA Turku by 18 pts.
BCJyvaskyla did not have any difficulties to beat RU (Vantaa) by 18 pts as well.
TuNMKY - FoKoPo 60-78 (24-43) (Charlie Frierson 30/12, Sauli Silvonen 10 - Ronnie Clark 25/16, Chris Smith 20/13).
BC JKL - RU 80-62 (44-26) (Monty Rogers (196-F, college: Mayville St.) 33/16, Antti Kanervo 13 - Vesa Linturi 17, Harri Hohteri 13).
Virtus La Fortezza Bologna defeated on the road Pierrel Capo d'Orlando 88-84 in the Serie A season opener yesterday night. The home team was limited by playing without star guard Gianmarco Pozzecco (185-G-72), injured, but fought till the end, led by Tamar Slay (204-G-80, college: Marshall) and Judson Wallace (204-F/C-82, college: Princeton), who scored 19 and 17 points, respectively. Dewarick Spencer (193-G-82, agency: Higher Vision Sports, college: Arkansas St.) scored the last points for Virtus from the charity line and confirmed that he can become one of the Serie A top scorers, ending the game at 18 points, well assisted by Guilherme Giovannoni (202-F-80, agency: Interperformances) at 14.
See complete boxscore at www.legabasket.it
Kazakhstan Open Cup held in Almaty reached its quarterfinal stage. All the games were held in Sports Arena "Dostyk". First Irkut took on the tournament's favorites Saba Battery from Iran. The key match up was in the paint as Russian team needed to neutraliza Iranian main force American centre Garth Joseph (217-C-73, college: St.Rose (NY)). By the start of the fourth frame Garth Joseph forced three Irkut players to leave the court due to foul trouble. It resulted in Saba Battery easily securing the win at the dying stages 86:72. Saba Battery became the first semifinalist of the Cup.
Almaty took on Tobol from Kostanai. The teams kept it close in the starting frame and were all square 13:13. Almaty raised the tempo in the second quarter and managed to clear off to a 12-point distance. The hosts held on to the lead in the third stanza and entered the final frame confident enough. But Tobol fulfilled almost impossible task. They outscored the home side and cut the deficit to just a single point with 12 seconds left. Pavel Miheev nailed a jump shot with seconds left in regualtion and made the Arena silent. Almaty did not manage to save the encounter and were seen off the title race. Mikhail Yevstigneyev (198-F-84) paced Tobol with 15 points.
Quarterfinals:
Saba Battery - Irkut 86:72
Tobol - Almaty 80:79
TSM Kashpagai - Barsy Atyrau 79:71
Kazygurt - Astana Tigers 49:109
Here are the results of three games played yesterday in the Tournament :
Group A :
Drita - Trepca
85 : 88
AS Prishtina - Kastrioti
67 : 57
Group B
Kosova (V) - Vllaznimi
on Monday
Sigal Prishtina - Ylli
90 : 76
Tournament in Riga
Barons/LMT - ASCO Slask 81:69 (29:21, 20:12, 13:15, 19:21)
Barons/LMT: Armands Skele (193-G/F-83) 26+6reb, Gustas 15+6reb, Hlebowicki 12, Berzins 7, Alexander 6+5reb, Stewart 6+12reb, Vaikulis 4, Kravcenko 3, Adomaitis 2, Eglitis, Rozitis.
ASCO Slask: Ubaka 18, Hyzy 12+6reb, Sulliger 12+5reb, Stevic 6, Tomczyk 6, Fountain 6, Diduszko 5, Janckin 2, Kiausas 1, Rizvic 1, Gai.
Tabulation
1. Barons/LMT
2. ASCO Slask
3. Odessa
Tournament in Ventspils
BK Ventspils - AEL 91:68 (28:12, 13:13, 23:20, 27:23)
BK Ventspils: Gilchrist 24, Love 16+6reb, Vitols 13, Skirmants 9+5reb, Helmanis 8, Vairogs 8, Gabrans 7, Cipruss 4, Veselovs 2, Zakis.
AEL: Trepaiovac 15, Souchou 14, Woodword 13, Randle 11+5reb, Zavareu 5, Perentos 4, Aleksic 2, Cuic 2, Liatsos 1, Illunga 1.
Anwil - Plannja Basket 95:74 (31:25, 29:19, 15:15, 20:14)
Friendly games
VEF Riga - Ventspils Augstskola 109:61
VEF Riga: Gumenyuk 19, Strupovics 17, Platmalnieks 16, Gulbis 11, Gailitis 10, Buikis 9, Jeromanovs 7, Aleksejevs 7, Selakovs 6, Rozitis 5.
Liepajas Lauvas - Ventspils Augstskola 69:59 (16:20, 13:17, 22:12, 18:10)
Four games were played over the last two days and 3 more are expected tonight. Siauliai is on the top now as the team played 2 games already and won in both of them. In the last game the team overcame Suduva 81:72. Before that Siauliai beat at home Atletas 73:61. Antonio Grant poured in 19 points for the winners. , Saulius Kuzminskas (210-C/F-82, college: California) supported him with 18 points and 12 rebounds as the team got the win mostly in the end. The spectators were happy to see that Siauliai made 23:14 in the last quarter to start the championship with a victory.
Lietuvos Rytas started the Championship with the win. In the first game the team had a road win over Alytus 112:62. Mindaugas Lukauskis (198-G-79) led the winners with 19 points. Jomantas and Slezas supported him with 15 points each. Marius Janisius (202-F-77) top-scored in the losing effort with 25 points. In each quarter the favorite was better in every aspect. The most problematic one for the hosts was the last quarter as they lost 13:30.
Sakalai opened the LKL with a home win over Neptunas 79:69. Justinas Sinica (203-F-85)'s 20 points and Vytautas Sarakauskas (202-C-82)'s 17, where the most important. Matulis however also shone in the court with 16 points and 17 rebounds. Vitalijus Stanevicius (201-F-83) produced 14 in defeat.
Suduva-Arvi -Siauliai 72:81
Alytus-Lietuvos Rytas 62:112 (17-27 14-23 18-32 13-30 )
Alytus: Marius Janisius 25, Kazevicius 14
Lietuvos Rytas: Mindaugas Lukauskis 19, Jomantas 15, Slezas 15
Sakalai-Neptunas 79:69 (12-20 23-19 19-15 25-15 )
Sakalai: Justinas Sinica 20, Vytautas Sarakauskas 17, Matulis 16+17 rebs
Neptunas: Vitalijus Stanevicius 14, Pridotkas 13
Siauliai -Aisciai-Atletas 73:61 (15-20 25-10 10-17 23-14 )
Siauliai: Antonio Grant 19, Saulius Kuzminskas 18+12 rebs
Aisciai Atletas: Gintautas Vileita (192-G-75, college: Monmouth) 22+10 rebs, Dabkus 18
Halcones UV Xalapa has been a continuous menace to its opponents, this is in part because of their winning streak
with yesterday's victory against Tecos de la UAGuadalajara, they raised it to 7 wins and no loses, remaining at the top of the standings.
A mexican base that includes members from the national team like Gustavo Ayon (211-F/C-85, college: San Jose St.), Victor Avila (209-C-77, college: Oklahoma) and Victor Mariscal (198-F-72), completed with
a solid foreign base with Carldell Johnson (178-G-83, college: UAB) and Sam Bowie (198-F/G-75, college: SE Louisiana), make this team unstopable.
Last night against UAG, the high man was Mariscal with 27 points, then Sam Bowie with 16,followed by "Squeaky" Johnson who made 14 units and 9 dimes,
Tecos de la UAGuadalajara resisted a 75-52 third quarter lead from Xalapa to record a 21-28 mark in the last period and finish the game
96-80 favouring the locals, the leader from Tecos de la UAGuadalajara was Wesley Fluellen (194-F/G-78, college: Robert Morris) with 21.
On paper South Kent is definitely one of the two most talented programs in
Raphael Chillious is entering his fifth season as the head men's basketball coach at the
While the level of talent on this year's team remains consistent with years past, there are some noticeable differences. While last year's squad was based in large part around their interior players this year's team clearly holds their biggest advantage in the backcourt.
“We're definitely going to be perimeter oriented,” said Chillious. “We have to make sure we maximize our quickness.”
With a starting lineup that could feature Washington bound point guard Isaiah Thomas, junior swingman Maurice Creek, super sophomore Dion Waiters, and junior forward Jin Soo Kim all playing around either Christian Morris or Assane Sene in the post, this team is not just quick, but they are extremely talented.
“We have a lot of guys who can score the basketball and a lot of guys who can make shots,” Chillious said. “But these guys are unselfish too.”
Players of note that will contribute to the team are Virgin Islanders Jervan Jackson (196-F/G) and Stephen O'reilly. Jackson, a slasher, is said to have picked up scholarship offers from
Oreilly is expected to offer depth in the backcourt and has already generated a good deal of interest from Quinnipiac and
Overall, this is certainly another talented
NewEnglandRecruitingReport.com
Women News
*****************************************************Cuba defeats Jamaica 76-62 and with this victory Cuba qualifies for the Semifinals. Tonight Cuba will play against Brazil to reach the Final of this Fiba Americas 2007. The other game is United States against Argentina. Only the winner of this tournament will qualifiy directly for Beijing 2008. The second, the third and the fourth team will obtain the right to participate at the PreOlympics Tournament next year. To reach the Semifinals for Cuba is a great result, Cuba is still in the game to win the FIBA 2007 and Our Hermanas are already sure to participate at the PreOlympics 2008 to obtain a classification for Beijing 2008.
The game against Jamaica was strictly in the hands of Cuba. The first quarter ended 24-11for Cuba, Cuba was too strong and Our Hermanas played as a team and with a wonderful Yayma Boulet (193-C-83) who scored 22 points (9/10 2pts, 4/5 FT). Cuba was 38-30 at the end of the second quarter. In the third and fourth quarter Cuba controlled the game and they obtained this important victory and the qualification for the Second Round of Fiba Americas 2007. Our MVP was Yayma Boulet. To mention also the game "all-garra" of Suchitel Avila with 8 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists
CUBA-JAMAICA=76-62
C=Boulet 22, Plutin 12+5rebs, Martinez 10, Suchitel Avila 8, Amargo 7, Gelis 6, Noblet 4, Romero 4, Martinez Calderon 2, Casanova Gonzalez 1, Soria 0, Rodriguez 0
J= Edwards 18, Louden 16, Gidden 7, Holness 6, Aikens 6, Simmonds 5, Pitterson 4.
A. Fontana
Italy-Spain 64:79 (18-25, 14-22, 15-16, 17-16)
Spain remains undefeated in Eurobasket 2007. In the first game of the Qualifying Round the team upset the hosts 79:64. Elisa Aguilar (178-G-76, college: George Washington) led the winners with 17 points. Ana Montanana (186-F-80, college: George Washington) produced 16, while Sanchez added 11. Raffaella Masciadri (185-F-80) ended up with 16 points in the losing effort. A three-ball by the latter closed the gap to 32-26 midway through the second quarter, and after an Isabel Sanchez jumper from the left made it 34:26, Zara pulled up at the top of the key and cut the deficit to 34:28 in the first half. Italy got no closer than 12 points in the second half.
Italy: Raffaella Masciadri 16, Zara 13, Kathrin Ress (193-F-85, college: Boston Coll.) 13
Spain: Elisa Aguilar 17, Ana Montanana 16, Sanchez 11
Serbia-Russia 67:65
Serbia creates another sensation in Eurobasket 2007 as yesterday Germany beat Czech Republic 54:47. Serbia overcame Russia 67:65 and improved to 1-2 in Group F. Russia lost for the first time in the tournament and now has 2-1. Milica Dabovic (175-G-82) led the winners with 28 points scoring most important points in the end of the game. Maria Stepanova (202-C-79) nailed 18 and made 11 rebounds for Russia, while Ilona Korstine (183-G-80) collected 16 points and 11 rebounds.
First half was the preparation for the second as both teams stayed together most of the time. Russia was the favorite of the game, however could not deserve it.
In the last quarter it was the game between Maria Stepanova and Milica Dabovic. Even their team mates tried to find the leaders of the teams for the final shots. After two jump shots, Milica Dabovic nailed a three with 4.25 remaining. At that time Serbia took a 57:53 lead, while Russia took a timeout. The timeout did not give enough time to rest for the Russian squad as right after it Shchegoleva received unsportsmanlike foul that gave Serbia 1 more point from Puskar's free throw.
It was Maria Stepanova's time again to reduce the score. She made another jump-shot with 2.44 remaining. Milica Dabovic replied with the same jump-shot to take 60:55 lead. As Russia understood that Maria Stepanova's effort would not be enough they saw Ilona Korstine to help the team. She scored 4 points in a row, however Serbia had 2 more points from Milica Dabovic who scored 2 free throws. Olga Arteshina (190-F-82) nailed two three pointers in a row to tie the score at 65:65 with 7 seconds remaining. Milica Dabovic nailed two points with 2 seconds in the fourth quarter and as it became clear in the last. Maria Stepanova's shot did not reach the basket.
Serbia: Milica Dabovic 28, Ivana Grubor (185-F/C-84) 8
Russia: Maria Stepanova 18+11 rebs, Ilona Korstine 16+11 rebs, Olga Arteshina 8
The start was fast and furious with Anastasiya Veremeenko from Belarus contesting the offensive boards as she scored 8 of her teams 12 points while they held a little advantage (12-9) after 6 minutes of play.
Emilie Gomis once again was the catalyst as France went on a 6:0 run to edge in front (15:14) with a little more than 2 minutes left in the first quarter. The Belarus head coach, Anatoiki Buyalski, called a time-out and changed his team tactics keeping France scoreless for the remaining of the period while his team Belarus regained the lead (18-15).
A different France in the second period, more aggressive in all sectors of the game, with Sandra Dijon taking control of the defensive boards and the guards using their pace to create space, they edged in front (28-23). Then Buyalski called a time-out but this time France remained focused: Sandrine Gruda ran back to retrieve a wayward pass by Dijon and managed to get it to Edwige Lawson-Wade who hit a 3 with the 24-second clock winding down. Immediately afterwards Clemence Beikes concluded another quick French move to give France the first significant advantage of the game (33-23). Despite France's dominance Jacques Commères was furious with his players for allowing Belarus to - finally - score a couple of 3-pointers. Despite his obvious annoyance Emmeline Ndongue concluded the last play just before the interval to give France an 8-point cushion.
During the third period Belarus, slightly more aggressive and adventurous, made the better start and scored the first 4 points. Both teams covered the perimeter making it difficult to work openings from the outside so they had to apply a little patience. In this exercise Belarus proved to be better than France and by the end of this quarter France's lead was reduced to 4 points.
Another system was adopted by France at the top of the final period with Gomis and Dijon scoring from the field while Gruda extended their lead to 11 points from the free-throw line. Belarus reverted back to their 3-point-play system but only hit their 3rd of the night. France continued to hold the advantage and Dumerc decided to give a little demonstration of running circles round the defence and dish out an assist right under the basket for Dijon to score her 10th point of the night (64-52).
Belarus, struggling to get any offensive game going, did not trouble France any more who recorded victory number 3 for this tournament.
Gruda finished with a game-high of 17 points followed by Ndongue with 12 and Dijon with 10 points. The team's collective game concluded with 16 assists with Lawson-Wade 5 and Audrey Sauret-Gillespie 3 of them. For Belarus the top-scorer with points was .Veremeenko with 15.
One second of magic in the dying minutes was all it took to turn this game around as Germany beat the defending champions Czech Republic 54-47 to put them back in the competition.
A lively first period in which the Czech Republic was forced to shoot from outside as they were not able to break through the German wall to score any points. Germany solid in defence and more conservative in their shot selection relied heavily on Linda Frohlich as they edged the first period (17:14). Defence was the order of the day in this match and during five minutes of the second period the defending champions gave a master class as they kept their opponents scoreless and regained the lead when Hana Machova perseverance paid off as she stripped Natalie Gohrke and went on to finish a lay up for Czech to regain the lead (17:18 . It required the entry of Roli-Ann Nikagbatse to get the German offensive back into action and by the time Margret Skuballa put Germany back in front with a shot from down (24:23) the recovery was complete. The game was nicely poised at the interval with Germany trailing by the smallest of margins (25:26)
The game became more physical as both teams matched each other blow for blow defensively with neither team able to get away as they exchanged the lead several times in what turned into a shooting contest that neither side could win and the game was tied (38-38) going into the final period.
The ding dong battled continued for most of the final period until the unthinkable happened, German finally managed to get a basket right under the bucket in the paint which just happened to be Linda Frohlich last basket of the night and suddenly with 1:57 left on the clock Germany had a gap of 4-points. That the defending champions did not score again was due some great defence. Germany had only hit 3-of-11 coming into the final stretch from the charity strip but hit all six in the dying minutes to win the match and keep their Quarter final hopes alive.
Frohlich may have been the star on the statistic side with 18 points, 10 rebound and 3 steals but the very quiet Imre Szittya outwardly calm persona was a critical factor in this victory.
Comments from Alexandra Mueller
I am not making my shots right now but that's fine as long as we win as a team and I try to do my best in defence and to get the ball inside and to help my team mates so I am satisfied and with a win everything is fine. As for the defence it was great today and I do not think that they expected that from us and that is what help us to win over them.
Comments from Linda Frohlich
First of all this is a very young team and in the first round we lost many games and many moments because we do not know how to hold on to the moment and I think today was hopefully the turning point that the teams see that when we are ahead , to stay focused, stay positive and not be shaken by the fact our opponents are going to score, but we should not be shaken by their strengths but to continue to believe in our strength.
She admitted that her knees trembled a bit because of the free throw situation: Oh my God it is a two point game and we keep missing the free throws but people stepped up and they all hit them and that some of them were big when they counted.
On the short selection she added: thats another focus point from the previous round we tried to get better shots and not get rushed into shots because in the first round we just took quick shots and that is not to our advantage, because then we have to go back and play defence and then it is hard to get those points and today I was happy that was visible we tried to take the best shot possible
Comments from Anne Breitreiner
I guess impossible is nothing, we believed in ourselves and our coaches prepared us pretty well, we were a bit unlucky in two games against Belgium and Lithuania because we could have won these games but at the key moments we were no there. May be our opponents under estimated us and that may have been the difference.If you want to listen to the full Audio Interval please click here http://www.wbbuzz.com/News/FIBA/Eurobasket-Women-2007/1474.html
Italy got off to a flying start scoring the first 7 points of the match with Dubravka Dacic hitting the first 4 points for her team. It took a 3-point shot from Laia Palau to get Spain going a little after two minutes into the match. Spain then went on to score 13 more unanswered points which also was terminated by a wonderful 3-point shot by Amaya Valdemoro in just under five minutes of exquisite Spanish team basketball. Italy not having any luck from the outside concentrated on working within the perimeter (7-of -10) to stay in touch and looked comfortable despite trailing by 7 points at the end of the first period after Francesca Zara scored what was t be the last score of the period (25-18).
Italy switched to zone at the beginning of the second period which initially slowed Spain down offensive wise as they had to spend more time in setting up their offence and play wide. While Italy excelled in defence their were unable to gain in offence as their ball handling let them down . After nearly five minutes of stale mate Evaristo Perez called a time-out which actually profited the Italians as Raffaella Masciadri hit her second 3 of the night. Amaya Valdemoro and Zurro came back in to the action and Spain went on the rampage and finished the period with a 13:4 which included a couple of clutch 3-pointers by Aguilar as they went in o the interval leading comfortably (47-32).
Spain maintained their movement and hit the first 6 points of the quarter concluding with a reverse spin hook shot for Amaya Valdemoro. After an Italian time-out Raffaella Masciadri came back with some delightful play and hit a trey from down to start an Italian fight back. Giorgia Sottana of the bench and full of energy around cause no ends of problems as Italy went on a 9:2 that required immediate action by Spain and a time out was called (55-41).
This break did break the Italian rhythm and despite the physical nature of the game, Gianni Lambrushi 'slack of offensive power with only Masciadri and Kathrin Ress in double digits against the well balanced attack of Spain still trailed by 15 points going in to the final period.
The final period was a formality for Spain as they run out winners (79-64).
For Italy Raffaella Masciadri finished with 16 points , while contributed 13 points and dish out six assists and Kathrin Ress contributed 13 points. Italy hit 62% from within the arc today.
For Spain Elisa Aguilar (178-G-76, college: George Washington) top scored with 17 points, Anna Montanana contributed 16 points, Isabel sanchez and Valdmore scored 11 and 10 respectively
After match comments
She also spoke about her energy on the court, I love basketball and I play with all my heart and I try to show that on the court
more comments to come