European Prospects

The 26th edition of the Albert Schweitzer Tournament came to an end yesterday in Mannheim with the Final games. The two best teams reached the Gold Medal game with Spain and Serbia while the hosts played against Turkey for the third place.

The United States won the game for the seventh place by beating an overall disappointing French team. The Americans were lead by Derrick Walton Jr who finished with 20 points while Mam Jaiteh was the top scorer for the French team with 25 points and 14 rebounds.

Italy won a nail biter for the fifth place against Russia. Mirco Turel had 20 points while Matteo Imbro scored 15 combined with 2 rebounds 5 assists but also 5 turnovers. Russia was driven by their inside combo Stanislav Ilnitskiy (19pts) and Igor Kanygin (18pts) while Mikhail Kulagin was a little less successful in his scoring (15pts) but helped in other sectors of the game by grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out 5 assists.

The game for the third place between Germany and Turkey was probably the best one of the Finals day. Both teams were shooting high percentages and there have been several great plays down the road. Germany build a nice lead up to thirteen points throughout the game with four players in double figures who were compensating the not so good game of Paul Zipser. Dominic Lockhart showed some good stuff as the Giessen guard finished with 15 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. Gavin Schilling had a nice game in the paint with 15 points while Ismet Akpinar was present as well. The Turkish team was driven by Burak Yildizli who scored 17 points but it was an unstoppable Tayfun Erülkü who was their winning guarantee. The guard scored more or less 13 points in a row in the final minutes of the game to turn around the score and secure the Bronze Medal to his team. Nobody on the German team could stop him as he made 3 three-pointers in the decisive moments and crowned his tournament with an excellent performance.

After the explosive game for the third place, the Final was a bit disappointing as both teams looked tired after the week long effort. Albert Homs played an excellent game as the Badalona guard took over the lead in this game from Josep Perez who had not his usual impact. Homs finished with 18 points and 3 assists while Sebas Saiz had again a nice game on Saturday. Guillermo Hernangomez had a bit more problems against the long Serbian inside players and struggled in his shooting (5/14 FGs). For Serbia, Nikola Radicevic tried his best but you had the impression that he was less incisive than in the semis for example. Nevertheless, he finished with 19 points and 7 rebounds but he was not making his three-point shots and turned the ball over a bit too much. Dusan Ristic had probably his best game of the tournament with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 3 block shots but it was not enough to help Serbia to win this game.

All-Tournament Team

The all-tournament team of the Albert Schweitzer Tournament 2012 was a bit surprising in my eyes as Mihajlo Andric made it as the best PF. I think, putting Hernangomez as best PF and Nikola Milutinov as best Center would have been more realistic. But that’s a personal opinion.

• G – Nikola Radicevic (Serbia)
• G – Josep Perez (Spain)
• F – Paul Zipser (Germany)
• F – Mihajlo Andric (Serbia)
• C – Guillermo Hernangomez (Spain)

Most talented player (Burkhard Wildermuth Award): Cedi Osman (Turkey)

MVP: Nikola Radicevic (Serbia)

The individual player reports will follow in the next days.