European Prospects

The last day of the first round at the 2014 edition of the Albert Schweitzer Tournament 2014 was also my first day at the traditional U18 event. The day started with a decisive game for advancing to the second round and finished with the classical Germany versus Turkey matchup.

England – Sweden 56-74

Sweden had the better start in the game as they were leading by 7 points after the first quarter. Ludde Hakanson scored 8 points all out of the dribble jumpers while Jules Akodo was still not really in the game offensively. Mattias Markusson was doing his job in the paint where he could finish on several baskets from close. England started the second quarter more alert putting more pressure on defense in order to disturb Hakanson bringing up the ball. However, after a timeout, Sweden had no more problems to break the press and Hakanson continued his jump shooting festival to bring his team up by 11 points 3 minutes before the half. An England timeout did not help as the Barcelona guard found Markusson on another drive and finished the first half with a huge buzzer beating three-point shot.

Sweden came out of the halftime break totally on fire and it was Erik Johansson who now lighting up the nets with his jump shooting. The Scandinavians gave England a lot of trouble with their 2-3 zone with Markusson in the middle and went up to +20. Even with Hakanson on the bench, Sweden did not give up their lead and always found the right player at the end of the shotclock. The last quarter did not bring anything new so that Sweden qualified for the second round on a 74-56 win.

MVP: Ludde Hakanson 24pts (8/15 FGs), 4rebs, 9asts, 3tos

Slovenia – Japan 101 – 88

Japan started the game like crazy and went up 6-0 after only 30 seconds and forcing a Slovenian time out after 90 seconds as they put enormous pressure full court that disturbed the offense of the European team. Japan continued to keep a super high pace shooting on the first open possibility and Slovenia tried to run with them. As Japan was not really effective, they could not create a lead and Slovenia went ahead behind the scoring of Jan Kosi. In the second quarter, Slovenia started to get tired a bit and turned over some easy balls so that Japan could gain back the lead behind their high-paced game. However, similar to the first quarter, Japan lost their lead when their second unit got switched in at the 5 minute mark so that Slovenia went to the halftime break with a 2 point lead.

Slovenia used their size advantage in the second half to dominate in the paint and close the drives of the Japanese guards. As the Asian team looked to become tired, Slovenia could score a lot of easy fast break points and ran ahead by 14 points 7 minutes into the second half. Japan could not increase their intensity level so that Slovenia managed to keep the difference at 15 before the last ten minutes. Japan had a last spurt to come back to 5 points seven minutes before the end. However, Slovenia took back the control and brought the difference back to double digits in the end.

MVP: Tilen Kodrin 25pts, 15rebs, 3asts

Serbia – Argentina 108 – 51

After a few exchanges without much happening, Argentina found their way into the game behind two three-pointers by Lucio Delfino from exactly the same spot. Serbia was forcing a lot of 1-1 situations and they needed a timeout after 5 minutes. After that, Serbia looked a bit more comfortable as Stefan Lazarevic scored some important points in the paint for the European team. This helped Serbia to go to the first quarter break with a 16-13 advantage. Argentina tied the game again in the early second quarter but driven by Stefan Peno, Serbia could generate a 6 point lead 6 minutes before the half. Despite an Argentinean timeout, Serbia was now on track and denied any attempts for the South Americans to come back. Radovan Djokovic hit a couple of shots and the difference was about twenty minutes shortly before the halftime break.

Serbia continued their domination in the second half and went a bit too flashy at times but it did not change much on the score. The game was already more or less over after the third quarter as the Serbians scored a triple on the buzzer to be up 77-38 before the last ten minutes. In the end, Serbia finished the game easily without forcing anything in the last quarter.

MVP: Nikola Pavlovic 11pts, 9rebs

Germany – Turkey 58 – 64

The last game of the day was on a totally different level right from the start. A packed gym with loud fans supporting both teams and a lot of talent on the court. Turkey started the game with a really tall lineup that closed the paint so that Germany struggled to find the way to the basket. Egemen Güven showed his mobility contesting a lot of shots. Lars Kamp got two fouls quickly and it was Niklas Kiel that finally made the first German basket. Turkey though dominated the game physically with a lot of different options but they could not create a significant lead during the German drought. Germany found slowly their rhythm behind Kiel doing his job in the low post and Jan Niklas Wimberg showing his versatility. Kiel brought the score back to 10-12 just before the buzzer of the first quarter on a nice fast break finish above the rim.

Okben Ulubay was forcing too much the 1-1 situations to go for contested long jump shots so that Germany could cut the difference to only 1 point 3 minutes into the second quarter. Luis Figge went for the off-the-back inbound play and the hosts got their first lead in the game. Both teams struggled to get good options on offense as the defenses were really physical. Mahir Agva missed a couple of low post plays that could have given Germany a bigger lead but Turkey was not able either to make good offensive plays. Jakob Merz showed his poise with tough defense on the taller Turkish PGs but also a couple of good three-point shots that kept Germany ahead. Turkey did not find back to their game and turned the ball over way too many times so that Germany went to the halftime break with a 29-25 advantage.

The second half started well for Turkey as they could tie the game quickly behind some great plays on offense of Tolga Gecim and Güven who also showed his length on defense again. Kiel forced some plays on offense which brought the lead back to Turkey 5 minutes into the second half. The defense dominated the game on both side so that every basket was a hard fight for both teams. Ege Arar did a nice job for Turkey in the paint while Sebastian Schmitt attacked the basket fearlessly for the  German team finding Agva for the important and 1 play. Agva found Kamp on a nice cut so that Turkey was only up 43-40 before the last ten minutes.

Wimberg had a couple of good plays to start the last quarter so that Germany tied the game at 45 with 8 minutes to go. Kiel made two quick fouls in a row so that he had four early in the fourth quarter. He stayed on the court and Turkey took back the control of the game in this defensive fight by being up by two points. Furkan Korkmaz scored a tough one on the drive but Wimberg answered with a triple on the Pick and Pop. Güven added a dunk so that Turkey was up 1 point 3 minutes before the end. Kamp missed twice from the three point line and Ulubay made only 1 FT to start the money time. Korkmaz added a great layup on the fastbreak with the foul so that Turkey was up 57-52 with 90 seconds left on the clock. Kamp then came up with a crucial three pointer to make it a one basket game that was however answered by Ulubay scoring the triple from the top. Wimberg scored the huge step back triple immediately out of the time out and Germany sent Ulubay back to the line where he made 2. Germany found Kiel on the next play but he missed his out of balance three-point shot so that Turkey could seal the deal from the free-throw line.

MVP: Ege Arar 11pts, 5rebs, 2blks