European Prospects

The preparation phase of the different European Youth championships continues. And here are some of the results collected through the net.

• Turkish U16 team won an International Tournament in Russia after beating the Serbian National team in the Final 67-65. Turkey, who played without Enes Kanter, was led by Kevin Kaspar and Burat Yüksel in the final game who both scored in double figures.
• The German U20 team played 3 friendlies against Turkey and finished with 1 win and two losses. In the last game, Germany was led by the athletic Elias Harris who scored 18, while Philipp Schwethelm had 11. Turkey had its top scorer in Dogus Balbay who scored 18 pts. The Turkish team will travel to Luxembourg where they will play their next preparation tournament from this Wednesday on while Germany will face off against Belgium three times this week.
• The Latvian U20 is also preparing for their European Championship played at home in Riga and beat Slovenia three friendly games this weekend. Latvia won twice behind the efforts of Rihards Kuksiks and Dairis Bertans.
• The Italian U18 was struggling in Russia this weekend as they finished last in a tournament where they played against the Czech Republic, Greece and the hosts. The tournament has been won by Greece who won all three games. Russia finished 2nd while the Czech Republic had the third place in the end.
• The Serbian U20 has won a preparation game against the Greek squad 72-66 this weekend. Marko Keselj was the top scorer for the Serbian squad. They will continue their preparation this week with some more games.
• Spain won their preparation tournament for U18 teams by beating France in the Final 75-65. The Iberian have a great team around their 1991 born talent Alberto Jodar while France is continuing to improve after their win in Douai. The team of coach Ory impressed especially with a defensive performance against Germany where they limited the team of Kay Blümel to only 37 points. Croatia, who beat France in the tournament saw the return of Tomislav Zubcic who missed the Douai rendez-vous a few weeks ago.