Pappas

Sloukas

Zahariev

Kanter

Motiejunas

Best Player: Donatas Motiejunas (214-C-90) of Lithuania
Best Guard: Nikolaos Pappas (194-G-90) of Greece
Best Forward: Hristo Zahariev (198-G/F-90) of Bulgaria
Best Center: Donatas Motiejunas of Lithuania
Best Coach: Giorgos Vlassopoulos of Greece

1st Team:
Nikolaos Pappas of Greece
Konstantinos Sloukas (192-G-90) of Greece
Hristo Zahariev of Bulgaria
Enes Kanter (205-C-92) of Turkey
Donatas Motiejunas of Lithuania

2nd Team:
Filip Sepa (199-G/F-90) of Serbia
Toni Prostran (188-G-91) of Croatia
Kalvis Krumins (182-G-90) of Latvia
Alexis Tanghe (207-F/C-90) of France
Mario Delas (210-C-90) of Croatia

Honorable Mention:
Ben Reis (196-F-90) of Israel
Pavel Antipov (200-F-91) of Russia
Maurice Stuckey (187-G-90) of Germany
Tautvydas Slezas (210-C-90) of Lithuania
Andrew Albicy (178-G-90) of France
Quentin Serron (190-G-90) of Belgium

   Division B. Finals - Aug. 3, 2008
Final
Slovenia U18 - Czech Republic U18 68:60
Slovenian U18 National Team outscored Czech Republic to earn the title in Division B of the European Championship. Both teams advanced to the Division A for the next year. Slovenia needed to overcome a slow start to steamroll their opponents in the next two quarters and secure the victory at the end. Marko Vranjkovic (202-F/C-90) secured 17 points and 11 boards to pace the winners. Czech Republic was not saved by a pivotal performance from Tomas Satoransky (196-G/F-91, agency: PPGroup) as he tallied 17 points, 8 boards and 5 assists. The teams exchanged the blows early in the game with Czech Republic being just more accurate and establishing a narrow 16:14 lead into the second frame. Tomas Satoransky kept Czechs ahead throughout the second frame but Slovenia surged in front late in the half. Anze Pelc drained a three-pointer and Uros Zadnik came up with a jump shot to give Slovenia a 36:33 advantage at the interval. Slovenia went on a 9:0 run in the third stanza to accumulate an 11-point cushion that proved unassailable at the end. Czech Republic failed to come closer in the reminder of the period. Moreover Slovenia extended the gap to 15 points with one quarter to go. Tomas Satoransky and Jan Vesely (210-F/C-90) trimmed the margin to 8 points but Slovenia kept steady and rolled to the success at the end. Mirza Sarajlija (183-G-91) buried 10 points for Slovenia. Luka Dimec (207-F/C-90) contributed 9 points in the Slovenian triumphant win. Jan Vesely finished with 16 points for Czech team. Kudlacek had 9 points in defeat.

Slovenia U18: Marko Vranjkovic 17+11 boards, Mirza Sarajlija 10, Luka Dimec 9
Czech Republic U18: Tomas Satoransky 17, Jan Vesely 16

3rd-4th spots
Poland U18 - Slovakia U18 70:60
Piotr Pamula (190-G-90) nailed 20 points and Polish Junior Team celebrated en emphatic win over Slovakia to clinch the third spot at the European Championship in Division B. Polish side exploded in the starting frame to set the tone for the rest of the encounter. Sulima and Piotr Pamula combined for 13 points in the first quarter as Poland jumped to a massive 32:12 lead after the starting quarter. Poland maintained the distance well throughout the second frame and established a 41:21 advantage at halftime. Richard Grznar (187-G-91) knocked down 6 points in the third term to pace Slovakia as they shaved the deficit to 16 points. Leonidas Kaselakis (202-C-90) and Konstantinos Papanikolaou (203-F/G-90) chipped in 19 points apiece to lead Greece. The hosts will now take on Lithuania in the title game tomorrow. Konstantinos Papanikolaou keyed Greek success in the first half. He notched all of his 19 points in the starting two quarters and Greece built a massive 27-point cushion at the interval. The visitors managed to win the second half by 4 points but it was too little to seriously threaten the margin. Greece got 15 points from Nikolaos Pappas (194-G-90, agency: FCM), while Konstantinos Sloukas added 13 points and 11 assists for the winners. Toni Prostran (188-G-91) answered with 15 points for Croatia. Tomislav Zubcic (213-C/F-90) delivered 13 points and 11 rebounds in defeat. Greece used a 28:9 rally in the opening stanza to clear off and never looked back again. They outrebounded their opponents 39:36 and overcame 19 turnovers showing some impressive field goal accuracy. Greece sank 58% from the field, while limiting their opponents to 32% only. Croatia will meet with France in the consolation final tomorrow.

Greece U18: Leonidas Kaselakis 19, Konstantinos Papanikolaou 19, Nikolaos Pappas 15
Croatia U18: Toni Prostran 15, Tomislav Zubcic 13+11 boards

Lithuania U18 - France U18 79:55
Lithuanian Junior National Team will play in the Final of the European Championship. Today they thumped France to enter the championship game. Donatas Motiejunas (214-C-90) nailed 24 points to lead Lithuania to a cruising victory. Tomorrow the Baltic team will face undefeated Greece in the main game of the event. France will take on Croatia in the consolation final. Lithuania dominated in the game leading right from the start. France managed to keep it close at the early stages however an 8:0 run from Lithuanian side put them ahead and they rolled to a 22:14 lead at the first intermission. Lithuania opened a 15-point cushion midway through the second stanza. France failed to answer and trailed by 15 points after 20 minutes of action. Donatas Motiejunas scored 5 points early in the third frame and Lithuania cleared off to an 18-point distance. France simply had no answers for the onslaught and never recovered suffering a heavy loss at the end. Tautvydas Slezas (210-C-90) p

   Division B. Qualifying Round 2 - Aug. 2, 2008
Qualifying Round - Group E

U18 Slovenia - U18 Czech Republic 78-77
Slovenia grabbed very important victory against powerful Czech Republic finishing Qualifying Round on top of Group E with prefect score. On the other side Czechs suffered thriller defeat today but they also advanced to the semifinals of U18 European Championship division B in Debrecen.

One of the main reasons of this victory is the fact that Slovenian big guys succeeded to stop the best scorer of the championship so far Jan Vesely (210-F/C-90). He spent 40 minutes on court scoring 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds but with terrible shot percentage. Jan Vesely made 4 of 13 attempts for FG2, 1 of 2 for 3-pts and 2 of 6 from the free throw line. After totally leveled fist stanza, Czechs grabbed 8 points lead during the next ten minutes. Slovenia answered very quickly and through Dino Muric (198-F/C-90) and Marko Vranjkovic (202-F/C-90) entered into the last frame with 55-53. Czech Republic was close to win in the regular time as it had 63-67 with one minute to go. At the next Slovenia's offense Uros Zadnik (185-G-90) netted two FTs after what Luka Dimec (207-F/C-90) made a lay-up for 67-67. During the extra 5 minutes Slovenia had plus 3 at the one moment but Czechs one again were a small step away from the victory. With 00:09 to go Sarajlija made a lay-up for 78-77 after what Czechs had a last offense but Jakub Kudlacek (186-G-90) missed a lay-up for the win.

Dino Muric was the best player of Slovenia today missing only one rebound for double-double. He finished the game with 16 points, 9 boards and 5 assists. Anze Pelc (190-G-90) contributed in this victory with 13 points while Marko Vranjkov

   Division B. Semifinals - Aug. 2, 2008
Semifinals

U18 Slovenia - U18 Slovak Republic 81-53
Slovenia cruised past Slovakia in the first semifinal game of U18 European Championship division B. Thus Slovenians reached the final and what is the most important they advanced to Division A for the next European Championship. It was a main goal of this team before the trip to Debrecen. On the other side Slovakia will have to be satisfied with a battle for the Bronze. Final game is scheduled for tomorrow at 20:30h when Slovenia will meet Czech Republic. Slovakia will take on Poland for third place at 18:15h.

Slovenia was much better team today. 21 rebounds more than Slovakia talks for itself about the difference between these two teams. Since the very beginning Slovenia took control on its opponent closing first stanza 16-8. After few minutes in the second period Slovenians already grabbed plus 15, 25-10. It wasn't the end of good performance by the official host in this game. After the breather Slovenian players wanted to resolve question about the winner quick. They done it very soon setting the score 50-28 after what there was not any doubt who will take this one.

Mitja Nikolic Smrdelj (201-F-91) was the best player in Slovenia today collecting 15 points and 7 rebounds. Mirza Sarajlija (183-G-91) also netted 15 points but with 4 assists while Marko Vranjkovic (202-F/C-90) had 10 points and 12 rebounds. Richard Grznar (187-G-91) once again shined in Slovakia adding 18 pints and 4 rebounds. Oto Ulman (202-C-90) followed him with 11 points and 8 boards.


U18 Slovenia - U18 Slovak Republic 81-53
(16-8, 18-14, 26-8, 21-23)

Slovenia: Mitja Nikolic Smrdelj 15

   Division B. Qualifying Round 1 - Aug. 1, 2008
Qualifying round -Group E

U18 Czech Republic - U18 Sweden 94-76
Czechs continued where they stopped in the Preliminary Round of U18 European Championship division B in Debrecen. This time Sweden wasn't able to resist against strong Czechs, which once again were led by fantastic Jan Vesely (210-F/C-90). Thus Czech Republic improved to 2-0 in Qualifying Group E while Sweden dropped to 0-2. As a reminder two best teams from this group will advance to the semifinals, which is scheduled for Saturday.

From the early begging it was clear that level of quality between these two teams is high. After first 10 minutes Czechs already created advantage of 11 points. With 3 minutes to go in the first half Czech Republic extended lead to huge 25 points thanks to Jan Vesely and Tomas Satoransky (196-G/F-91, agency: PPGroup). Nothing has changed after the half time. Czech Republic still was the team which dominated while Sweden struggled a lot with its defense. These 20 minutes were just the formality as it was clear that Sweden is not able to make this day more interesting. Center Jan Vesely was unstoppable under the basket. He poured in 30 points and grabbed 18 rebounds. Vesely's shot percentage was on a pretty good level as he had 63.2% for FG2, 33.3 for 3-pts and 60% from the free throw line. Jakub Kudlacek (186-G-90) contributed in this win having 16 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists while Tomas Satoransky also shined with 15 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists. Sweden got the most from Christopher Czerapowicz (195-G-91), who scored 28 points. Andreas Person (188-G-91) was behind him with 17 points and 4 boards. Czechs will take on powerful Slovenians tomorrow while Sweden will play against Austria

   Division A. Qualifying round Day 3 - Jul. 31, 2008
Group E
Israel U18 - Serbia U18 65:61
Israel Junior National Team completed their European Championship Qualifying round campaign with a narrow win over Serbia. Yotam Shiran (198-F-90) scored 14 points to pace balanced Israeli offense past the reigning champions. Both teams finished with 2-3 record in Group E and would play in the 5-8th spots semifinals. Israel used a 14:3 rally in the first period to establish a 22:12 lead with just over 2 minutes left. Three freebies from Filip Sepa (199-G/F-90) and a three-pointer from Aleksandar Vlahovic (193-G-90) cut the distance to 6 points but Ventura capped the frame with a free throw and Israel enjoyed a 25:18 advantage. Israel maintained the distance well and drove to a 35:30 lead at the sides change. Finally Serbia surged in front early in the third quarter. Aleksandar Vlahovic and Subotic teamed up for 6 consecutive points and Serbia jumped to a 39:38 lead. But Israel retained the advantage and Sabag gave Israel a 51:49 buffer entering the fourth term. The teams kept it extra close throughout the final stanza but Israel proved more accurate at the end. Sabag nailed a jumper with 56 seconds left, while Ben Reis (196-F-90) sealed the winning outcome from the charity stripe. Ben Reis scored 12 points and pulled down 6 boards for Israel. Tamir Ariely (190-G-90) chipped in 10 points for the winners. Aleksandar Vlahovic contributed 15 points for Serbia. Filip Sepa added 11 points before fouling out.

Israel U18: Yotam Shiran 14, Ben Reis 12, Tamir Ariely 10
Serbia U18: Aleksandar Vlahovic 15, Filip Sepa 11

Greece U18 - Lithuania U18 72:54
Greek Juniors once again proved they should be considered the main contenders for the title at the home European Championship. Today they edged Lithuania to stay undefeated and finished the Qualifying round at the helm of Group E. Nikolaos Pappas (194-G-90, agency: FCM) masterminded the victory scoring 22 points. Lithuania entered the semifinal stage despite the loss. Tautvydas Slezas (210-C-90) tallied 13 points and 12 boards to pace the Baltic team. Greek team dominated right from the start and piled up a 22:11 advantage ten minutes into the game. Lithuania opened the second frame with an 8:0 rally to close the margin but Greece responded with a 16:3 outburst to build an 18-point cushion at the interval. The hosts maintained the distance well throughout the third quarter and rolled to a 52:38 advantage at three-quarter tim

   Division A. Qualifying round Day 2 - Jul. 31, 2008
Group E
Italy U18 - Israel U18 93:57
Italian U18 National Team scored their first win at the Qualifying round of the European Championship in Greece. Nicolo Melli (205-F-91) tallied 22 points and 12 boards to lift Italy past Israel today. Israel opened their Qualifying round campaign with a surprising victory over Lithuania but could not match the winning tempo. Italy thus improved to 1-3 record and leapfrogged Israel in Group E ladder. The teams got to a slow start of the game but Italy used triples from Andrea Muner and Andrea De Nicolao to jump ahead. Another 6:0 run late in the frame propelled Italian team to a 20:7 advantage. The Azurri secured a 23:11 lead at the end of the first frame. Daniele Sandri (196-F/G-90) sparked a 7:0 rally from Italy early in the second period as they cleared off to a 17-point distance. Israel never reminded of the team that crushed Lithuania a day ago as they trailed by 13 points at halftime. Italy tipped off the second half with a 13:2 surge that put them ahead by 24 points. Israel just managed to close the margin to 18 by the end of the stanza. However Lorenzo Panzini (185-G-90) and Paolisso never allowed Israel to revive the intrigue in the fourth quarter as they led Italy to a confident victory at the end. Lorenzo Panzini nailed 16 points for the Azurri. Daniele Sandri came up with 14 points in a win. Yotam Shiran (198-F-90) responded with 11 points for Israel. Ron Sabag (184-G-90) had 9 points in a losing case.

Italy U18: Nicolo Melli 22+12 boards, Lorenzo Panzini 16, Daniele Sandri 14
Israel U18: Yotam Shiran 11, Ron Sabag 9


Greece U18 - Serbia U18 72:59
Greek Juniors avenged of the last years loss in the European Champions Final beating the defending champions Serbia today. Nikolaos Pappas (194-G-90, agency: FCM) exploded with 23 points to lift the hosts to an impressive victory and ensured their perfect record on top of the Qualifying round Group E. Serbia in the meantime received a major setback in their semifinal pursuit as they slipped to 2-2 record. Serbia will face Israel, while Greece will take on Lithuania tomorrow.
Nikolaos Pappas scored 9 points to mastermind a 19:11 lead for Greece after the starting period. The hosts opened the second frame with a 13:0 run to clear off to a 21-point distance. Aleksandar Mitrovic (201-G-90) and Dejan Musli cut the deficit by a whisker but Nikolaos Pappas iced their effort with a three-pointer. Serbia however ref

   Division B. Stats leaders after Preliminary Round - Jul. 30, 2008
Center of Czech U18 National Team Jan Vesely (210-F/C-90) is together with Bosnian Aldin Majstoric (198-G-90) currently the top scorer of U18 European Championship division B in Debrecen. Both players netted 87 points in four games, 21.8 ppg. Vesely and his teammates ended Preliminary Round on top of Group A recording three wins and one defeat. Vesely demonstrated the best performance at the opening day against Netherlands scoring 26 points for 24 minutes. He also had 24 points against Montenegro, 17 vs Norway and 20 against Austria. On the other side Majstoric's name is alongside Vesely's thanks to wonderful performance at the last round against Slovenia. Majstoric led his team to win in that game draining 38 points. Round before that he poured in 30 points vs Ireland while at the first two days he had 19 points in total. Another Czech is on the list with Top 3 scorers of the championship so far. It is Richard Grznar (187-G-91), who averaged 21.5 ppg in four games. He reached the competition-high scoring 31 points against Georgia on Monday.

Romanian Rolland Torok (198-C-90) is currently the top rebounded of the championship with 12 rpg while the second place belongs to Danish player Mads Frandsen (201-F-90), who averaged 11.8 rpg. On position number three with 9.5 rpg is Andre Pereira (198-F, college: Rider) from Portugal.

Top assistant after Preliminary Round is another Czech Tomas Satoransky (196-G/F-91, agency: PPGroup), who dished out 7.3 apg. Andrew Lawrence (186-G-90) follows him with 4.7 apg while Uros Zadnik (185-G-90) has 4.3 apg.

Two Portuguese are on top of the list with best 'stealers'. Jose Barbosa and Diogo Correia (185-G-90) registered 5 spg while Mohammed Kherrazi (199-F-90) of Netherlands has 3 spg.

   Division A. Qualifying round Day 1 - Jul. 30, 2008
Group E
Israel U18 - Lithuania U18 72:61
Israeli Junior National Team surprised the Lithuanian counterparts at the start of the qualifying round of the European Championship in Greece. Lithuania entered the stage undefeated but was slowed down by impressive performance from Tamir Ariely (190-G-90) and Ben Reis (196-F-90). Tamir Ariely nailed 20 points, while Ben Reis added 18 points and 13 boards to pace Israeli to big time victory over the tournaments favorites. Lithuania seemed to be well in control in the opening stanza as they drove to Mantas Kadzevicius (193-G-91) closed it with 6 straight points and gave the Baltic team a 19:13 advantage. However Tamir Ariely sparked a 9:0 run from Israel midway through the second period as they spurred ahead 28:24. Pecikevicius however closed the first half with two freebies and retained advantage for Lithuania 31:30. The teams traded baskets throughout the third frame and Lithuania secured a 51:49 lead with one quarter to go. However Daniel Tamir (206-C-91), Ron Sabag and Ben Reis put Israel up early in the fourth term. Another outburst from Ben Reis and Ron Sabag opened a double digit cushion with just 27 seconds remaining. Lithuania managed to answer with a three-pointer from Kristijonas Gaska before running out of time and losing the battle. Daniel Tamir contributed 14 points for Israel. Donatas Motiejunas (215-C-90) answered with 18 points and 14 boards for Lithuania. Mantas Kadzevicius had 9 points in a losing case. Israel sank 40% from the field and held their opponents to only 35% accuracy. Lithuania also committed deadly 22 turnovers down the stretch.

Israel U18: Tamir Ariely 20, Ben Reis 18+13 boards, Daniel Tamir 14
Lithuania U18: Donatas Motiejunas 18+14 boards, Mantas Kadzevicius 9


Greece U18 - Italy U18 68:63
Italian U18 Team opened the qualifying round at the European Championship with the game against one of the main favorites of the tournament Greece. Zisis Sarikopoulos (212-C-90) paced balanced Greek offense and they held off Italy to stay undefeated at the tournament. Italy fell to 0-3 record at the bottom of the qualifying Group E. Italian side got to a better start to the game but failed to capitalize. Andrea Muner (196-F-90) scored 4 points early in the game to make it 8:2 for the vi

   Division B. Last day of Preliminary Round - Jul. 30, 2008 
PRELIMINARY GROUP A

U18 Austria - U18 Czech Republic 73-77
Czech Republic made excellent victory against Austria in the last game of Preliminary Round taking top position in Group A. On the other side Austria is the second ranked team in the same group thus these two countries will continue competition in the Qualifying Round creating a new Group E together with two best teams from Preliminary Group B. First game of the Qualifying Round is scheduled for Thursday.

Czechs opened the game with 2-8 but Rasid Mahalbasic (203-F-90) and Moritz Lanegger (188-G-90) made turn until the end of the first quarter setting the score on 22-15. After three minutes of the next stanza their lead became even bigger, 28-20. It was a signal for Jan Vesely (210-F/C-90), Jakub Kudlacek (186-G-90) and Tomas Satoransky (196-G/F-91, agency: PPGroup) to wake up what they done making impressive 15-0 run. Czechs ended first quarter 8-23 heading into the second half with plus 8. Austrians didn't give up until the end and they got awarded in 37th minute tying the score on 66-66. Unfortunately to them Jan Vesely and Jakub Kudlacek were concentrated from the free throw line in the last minute while Jesse Seilern (189-G-90) committed turnover after what Rasid Mahalbasic made flagrant foul. The bad thing for Austrians that this defeat will be transferred to the Qualifying Round where Czechs will enter undefeated.

Jan Vesely once again demonstrated his domination under the basket. He netted 20 points and grabbed 13 boards. Jakub Kudlacek also shined for the winning side adding 19 points while Tomas Satoransky contributed with 17 points and 6 rebounds. As usually Moritz Lanegger was the best in Austria collecting 20 points and 11 rebounds while PRELIMINARY GROUP A

U18 Czech Republic - U18 Norway 101-63
Czech Republic outplayed Norway staying in the race for the Qualifying Round on U18 European Championship division B in Debrecen. Czechs currently have 2 wins and 1 defeat and they will play tomorrow against direct rival for the next stage, Austria. On the other side Norwegians lost all chances for the second stage so they will continue championship in classification round.

Czech Republic proved its quality from the early beginning of the game. After 10 minutes Czechs already created advantage of 13 points, 21-8. Jakub Kudlacek (186-G-90) and Tomas Satoransky (196-G/F-91) continued with nice performance so at the center of the second stanza it was 35-15 for Czechs. Norwegians were not so bad at the offensive end but their defense was on a poor level. Czechs were unstoppable counting until 29 in the second period. Situation on the court was the same during the last two quarters. Norwegians continued with missing many shots while at the same time they committed 27 turnovers. Everything resulted with plus 38 for Czech Republic at the very end.

Center Jan Vesely (210-F/C-90) once again was the leading scorer of his team with 17 points. Tomas Satoransky had nice performance collecting 15 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists while Jakub Kudlacek also had 15 points but with 4 assists. Anders Stien (194-G-90) added 13 points and 5 rebounds for the loosing side. Nicholas Phillip and Magnus Midtvedt (182-G-90) followed him posting 11 points each. At the last day of the Preliminary Round Norway will meet Netherlands.


U18 Czech Republic - U18 Norway 101-63
(21-8,29-18,22-20,29-17)

Czech Republic: Jan Vesely 17, Tomas S

   Division B. Day 3 - Jul. 29, 2008
PRELIMINARY GROUP A

U18 Norway - U18 Austria 63-78
Austria is the first team from Preliminary Group A which already booked a spot for the next stage on U18 European Championship division B in Hungary. As a reminder Austrians were better than Netherlands in the first and later against Montenegro in the second round. Norway is winless yet after two appearances in Group A. As usually Lanagger was a key player for Austrians in this game. He registered double-double scoring 21 points with 10 rebounds and 4 assists. Jesse Seilern (189-G-90) also demonstrated wonderful performance for the winners collecting 20 points and 6 rebounds. Norway got the most from Roy Nwachukwu (193-F-90), who had 19 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists. Anders Stien (194-G-90) followed him netting 14 points for the losing side.

It was a nice beginning of the game for Norwegians as after almost seven minutes they made advantage of seven points, 17-10. It was kind of signal for Austrians to wake up what they immediately done. In just 3 minutes MMoritz Lanegger (188-G-90) and Jesse Seilern made 9-2 run for 19-20 after first ten minutes. Norway showed much better performance in the second quarter making turn at the first point and later reaching plus 5. Unfortunately to their fans Norwegians succeeded to keep advantage of just 2 points until the half time. Austria opened the next quarter with 9-3 run extending its lead later to 11 points. Lanagger had pretty good last two minutes of this period brining 47-61 to his team. The closing frame was just a formality as Norwegians wasnt able to threat seriously until the end. After three victories Austria will take a rest tomorrow while Norway will try to record the first win against Czech Republic.


U18 Norway - U18 Austria 63-78
(19-20,19-16,9-25,16-17)

Norway: RRoy Nwachukwu 19 (11 rebs, 4 as), Anders Stien 14
Austria: Moritz Lanegger 21 (10 rebs, 4 as)

PRELIMINARY GROUP A

U18 Czech Republic - U18 Netherlands 107-71
Czech Republic grabbed victory in its first appearance on U18 European Championship division B in Debrecin. Czechs had a day-off yesterday so they are looking forward to the next round having 1-0 while Netherlands faced with second failure. Thus Netherlands, which came to Hungary having big ambitions, is currently the only team in Preliminary Group A with two defats. Since the beginning of the game Czech Republic was the team which dominated. Big guy Jan Vesely (211-F/C-90) was unstoppable under the basket while Jakub Kudlacek (187-G-90) also had a pretty good day. After 15 minutes of the game Czechs created advantage of 17 points. Second half didn't change anything as Czechs continued at the same rhythm. Very soon it was unreachable 73-57 for them what was a sign that the game is lready over. Until the end Netherlands wasn't able to get any closer while on the other side Czech Republic didn't want to stop which resulted with final plus 36.

Jan Vesely was totally the best player in this game nailing 26 points. At the same time Czech's prospect grabbed 6 more rebounds and registered 5 steals. Jakub Kudlacek also shined for the winners with 21 points and 5 assists while Tomas Satoransky (197-G-91, agency: PPGroup) had 14 points and 7 assists. Jesse Voorn (186-G-90) was the top scorer Netherlands with 14 points while Stefan Mladenovic

   Division A. Day 2 - Jul. 26, 2008
GROUP ASpain U18-Belgium U18 88:69

Spain U18 got the first win in Group A of European Championship today. With four wins in four quarters the team beat Belgium U18 88:69 and sent them to 0-2. Ivan Martinez (193-F-90) led the winners with 13 points. Toni Jaume (201-C-90) and Ignacio Llovet (202-C-91) followed him with 11 apiece. Lorenzo Giancaterino (190-F-90) top-scored for Belgium with 16 points and Yannick Moray (198-F-91) netted 14.
Belgium opened the game well leading 12:6 midway through the first quarter. Perez brought Spain the lead at 17:16 and then they had 24:19 after one period. Belgium started another quarter better again but Ignacio Llovet tied the score at 25 for both squads. Santana's three closed the first half at 45:36 for the Spanish team. Spain used the three-ball to pull away from Belgium and led 61:43 before going into the fourth quarter ahead 65:47. Trailing 70:51 Belgium however produced 9-0 run to cut to 70:60. That was all they could do with more than 5 minutes in the game. Spain pushed the tempo and increased the score on the board. Last four points in the game belonged to them as Gonzalez made a lay-up and a jump shot.

Spain U18:Ivan Martinez 13, Toni Jaume 11, Ignacio Llovet 11
Belgium U18:Lorenzo Giancaterino 16, Yannick Moray 14

Greece U18 - Israel U18 89:67

   Division B - Results and stats, Day 1 - Jul. 26, 2008
PRELIMINARY GROUP A

U18 Montenegro - U18 Norway 70-66
Montenegro grabbed victory at the opening day of U18 European Championship division B in Debrecin beating Norway without any extra effort. As a reminder, these two teams are placed in Preliminary Group A together with Czech Republic, Austria and Netherlands. After totally leveled first 7 minutes of the game Norway succeeded to make quick 4-0 run. Thus after 18-18, visitors in this game ended first quarter with 4 points lead. It was a kind of a signal to Montenegro to start playing much tougher. Beginning of the second stanza brought different picture on the court as Montenegro was the team which dominated. Mostly owing to Bogdanovic and Filip Barovic (205-F-90), Montenegro made impressive 20-0 run setting the score on 38-22. Montenegro's defense looked extremely organized which resulted without any point from Norway for almost 9 minutes in the second quarter. Filip Barovic was a key player for Montenegro in the first half scoring 15 points. Until the end of the half time Norway somehow succeed to recover of this fiasco coming closer on minus 11. After the breather, Montenegro continued at the same rhythm touching plus 15 twice. Milorad Sutulovic took care for the points in this quarter for Montenegro. At the beginning of the last frame Filip Barovic brought advantage of 16 points for his team after what the rest of the game was just the formality. Actually Norway come on minus 4 twice but it was their maximum in this game.

Filip Barovic paced Montenegro to win collecting 16 points and 9 rebounds. Milorad Sutulovic followed him scoring 17 points. Norway got 15 points from Anders Stien (196-G-90) while Aksel Bolin (195-G-90) and Roy Nwachukwu (194-F-90) netted 11 points each. In the next round Montenegro will meet Austria while Norway has a day-off.


U18 Montenegro - U18 Norway 70-66
(18-22, 23-8, 14-11, 15-25)

Montenegro: Filip Barovic 16 (9 rebs), Milorad Sutulovic 17
Norway: Anders Stien 15, Aksel Bolin 11 (6 rebs), Roy Nwachukwu 11 (5 rebs)

   Division A. Day 1 - Jul. 25, 2008
GROUP A
Israel U18 - Belgium U18 64:58

Israeli Juniors registered their first win at the European Championship that started in Greece today. They defeated Belgian team to open the action in the preliminary Group A. Ben Reis (196-F-90) and Yotam Shiran (198-F-90) led balanced Israeli offense with 14 points apiece. Belgium got to a better start to the game but Israel managed to recover and prevailed at the latter stages of the clash. Deroover and Thomas Thaey (197-F-91) scored back-to-back trebles to cap the first stanza and Belgium led 24:18. Ben Reis nailed 6 points early in the second frame and Israel knotted things up at 26. Ben Reis and Tamir Ariely (190-G-90) later lifted Israel ahead 33:31 at the interval. Tamir Arielys trey early in the third stanza marked a 7-point advantage for Israel. Thomas Thaey nailed 4 points and Alexandre Libert (186-G-90) added a freebie for Belgium to trim the gap to 3 points. Thomas Thaey added 5 points in a row early in the fourth term and Belgium drew things level once again 53:53. However Israel answered with an 8:0 rally to claim a 61:53 lead with just over two minutes remaining. Thomas De Thomas Thaey and Alexandre Libert shaved the distance to 3 points but Tamir Ariely and Run sealed the winning outcome for Israel in the dying seconds. Tamir Ariely came up with 12 points for Israel in the win. Thomas Thaey replied with 14 points and 9 boards for Belgium. Alexandre Libert knocked down 12 points in a losing effort. Belgium outrebounded their opponents 51:36 but suffered deadly 26 turnovers down the stretch.

Israel U18: Ben Reis 14, Yotam Shiran 14, Tamir Ariely 12
Belgium U18: Thomas Thaey 14, Alexandre Libert 12