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- FIBA U19 World Championship Men Latvia
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FIBA U19 World Championship Men
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The
2011 FIBA U19 World Championship will be hosted by Latvia from June 30
to July 10, 2011. The draw for the Championship took place on February
17, 2011 in Riga. Teams will play a round robin schedule, with the top
three teams advancing to the knockout stage.
2011 FIBA U19 World Championship on Wikipedia check here.
Official 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship website check here.
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July 10, 2011 - Lithuania claim gold
An 18-3 scoring rout led by tournament MVP Jonas
Valanciunas and Vytenis Cizauskas at the end of third quarter has
killed of a courageous Serbian effort and handed the FIBA U19 World
Championship gold medal to Lithuania. With scores tied at 43 and Serbia
having momentum in their favor - even without star point guard
Aleksandr Cvetkovic who was spending a long period of the game watching
from the bench - Lithuania's star pairing of Valanciunas and Cizauskas
stepped up to the mark, claiming 11 points between them on an 18-3
scoring run that would switch a sold-out Arena Riga into party mode
with a quarter still to play. At the beginning of the game Lithuania
would again take their time to settle into their work with Serbian
Djordje Drenovac beginning scoring from the free three throw line. But
when Valanciunas claimed his first basket of the night in the third
minute of play, there would be no stopping Lithuania as the center
combined with Edgaras Ulanovas to score 13 of their team's 18 first
quarter points to have them ahead by five at the break. Read more here.
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July 10, 2011 - Kulagin leads Russia to bronze
A complete four quarter 24 point performance from
Dmitry Kulagin has earned himself and Team Russia bronze medals at the
FIBA U19 World Championship. Russia's quarterfinal victory over USA
could be attributed to their outside display of shooting but it was
failing early on for them against Argentina, hitting just one from six
from outside the perimeter over the opening ten minutes. Despite this,
Kulagin was still getting the job done inside, claiming eight first
quarter points to see scores tied at 19. There were no such problems at
Argentina's end of the court with Pablo Perez coming off the bench to
hit three from three from outside to see his team up by six points
early in the second quarter. With nothing falling for Russia, Argentina
looked comfortable conserving their lead. Kulagin would give the
Russians a late consolation, hitting an off balance three pointer - his
first of the night - as the halftime buzzer rang out, bringing the
deficit back down to five. Read more here.
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July 10, 2011 - USA clinch fifth spot in dramatic classification game
Before the medal matches in Arena Riga on Sunday,
battles still had to take place to decide the final placings of teams
five through eight. Despite not playing for medals, their was no
shortage of emotion. Before the Americas champions came up against the
Oceania champions their was the still the little matter of deciding
seventh and eighth spots with two of the youngest teams in Latvia
coming up against each other as Poland and Croatia offered a slight
taste of what can be expected at the up and coming Euro U18
Championship to be held later this month in Poland. In the first half
the teams were evenly matched but in the second big man Przemyslaw
Karnowski showed himself to be the difference, lifting his side to a 12
point win with 29 points, seeing Poland finish in seventh and the
Croats eighth. Read more here.
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July 9, 2011 - Cool heads prevail for Serbia
Serbia have shown an ability to remain calm under
pressure, seeing of Argentina by five points in a nail biting second
semifinal to set up a date with Lithuania in Sunday's gold medal match.
The last time that Serbia and Argentina met in a match prior to the
FIBA U19 World Championship it took a double overtime to find the
winner and early indications suggested that a similar scenario was
about to unfold on Saturday night with eight lead changes and tied
scores on seven occasions in the first half. Early in the second
quarter Serbia looked like building the first substantial lead of the
game, forcing Argentinean Coach Enrique Elias Tolcachier to switch to
zone defense. The move would prove affective as Argentina - led by the
ever-improving Patricio Garino - went on a 10 point scoring run to be
leading by four at halftime. Read more here.
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July 9, 2011 - Near perfect first half lifts Lithuania into final
A near perfect first half performance from a
Lithuanian team spurred on by nearly 5000 fans has proven enough to see
off a strong finishing Russian side and book their place in Sunday's
final. Not unlike their quarterfinal against Poland, Lithuania started
the game slowly, failing to score in the first three minutes of the
game. But once the Lithuanian green machine found its feet their was no
stopping it as Rolandas Jakstas - who would claim 11 points in the
opening 10 minutes - led his team on a 13-0 scoring run to give them a
lead that would be sitting at 14 by the end of the opening quarter.
With Jakstas off the court, none of the momentum was lost for Lithuania
as Jonas Valanciunas continued to drive his team ahead. Russia simply
could find no way to stall the Lithuanian's offensive momentum or lift
their own with Valanciunas waiting to pounce every time Russia
attempted to drive the lane. At the half he would have almost out
rebounded the entire Russian line up, claiming nine to himself compared
to Russian's team total of 12. Read more here.
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July 9, 2011 - USA and Australia to fight it out for fifth place
While most of the attention on Saturday was being
directed towards seeing who will play in the gold medal match, other
battles were also being played out to see who will on Sunday compete
for places five through eight. In the first game between Poland and
USA, the Poles showed resistance for the first five minutes but with
both coaches enforcing a rotation policy to give some of their lesser
seen players in Latvia more game time it was the Americans showing more
depth off the bench, cruising to a near 40 point victory. Read more here.
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July 9, 2011 - Brazil take out 9th spot
After losing to Latvia and
Brazil respectively on Friday, Canada and Egypt were left to fight it
out for 11th and 12th positions early on Saturday, followed up by the
Latvians and Brazilians who were attempting to claim 9th position. The
opening game between Egypt and Canada resembled the walking wounded
with the tournament taking an obvious toll on both teams who came into
their final match sporting injury depleted line ups. The two sides had
previously met in this tournament with Canada prevailing on that
occasion by 20 points. Read more here.
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July 8, 2011 - Argentina break up European party in final four
Argentina have assured that it will not be all
European teams in the final four of the FIBA U19 World Championship,
holding off Croatia in the last of the quarterfinal matchups. From the
highs of beating tournament favorites USA and Lithuania to the lows of
losing to Korea, Croatia have shown in Latvia that consistency is not
their strong suit and in the first half it looked as if their
rollercoaster was heading for another low against an Argentinean side
that has grown stronger in every game at this tournament. Throughout
the opening half it was Argentina in the lead with Croatia coming close
to going in front on more than one occasion only to fade away again
with the South American's lead going out to as much as 19 points. Read
more here.
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July 8, 2011 - Serbia grab third semi final spot
Serbia have ended the time of Australia in Latvia,
sealing their quarterfinal meeting with a 17-0 run in the third quarter
to become the third semifinalist. Both teams were slow to get into
their work with just five points being scored in the first five minutes
- four of which went to Serbia. The undersized Australian side would
continue to struggle for the remainder of the opening quarter against
their taller opponents. At the end of the opening ten minutes Serbia
had worked their way out to a ten point lead. Australia were able to
make some slight inroads in the second quarter but Serbia answered back
immediately with Luka Mitrovic slamming it home twice before Djorje
Drenovac also jumped in on the action, grabbing his team's third dunk
in a matter of minutes. Read more here.
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July 8, 2011 - Trushkin slays USA
Vladislav Trushkin has produced the performance of
his young life, hitting 14 points in the final quarter to knock USA out
of the FIBA U19 World Championship. One of the main concerns going into
the second quarterfinal was what team Russia would show up with on game
night. It would turn out to be a team that would create one of the
biggest upsets seen in the history of the FIBA U19 World Championship
with USA shocked into submission by the outside shooting of Trushkin
and team mate Dmitry Kulagin who between them knocked down eight three
pointers. Read more here.
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July 8, 2011 - Valanciunas leads Lithuania into Semi Finals
On the back of 26 points and 24 rebounds from Jonas
Valanciunas, Lithuania have claimed the the first Semi Final spot
at the FIBA U19 World Championship, seeing off a Polish side left
reeling after a defensive break down midway through the opening half.
The early stages of the game were riddled by uncharacteristic offensive
mistakes from both teams with nerves evident in the young players. It
would be Lithuania however who would settle down first, taking
advantage of the extra space that Jonas Valanciunas had after Polish
coach Jerzy Szambelan subbed off big man Przemyslaw Karnowski. Read
more here.
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July 6, 2011 - Russian hopes lie with Brazil
Russia has ended a three game losing streak, beating
the tournament hosts Latvia to remain a theoretical chance of making
the quarterfinals. Latvia was leading through the early stages, thanks
to a barrage of threes to open the match as they worked their way out
to a 12 point lead. After the break however the roles of the two teams
reversed with Alexander Varnakov providing inspiration off the bench
scoring 18 of his side's 30 final quarter points. Latvia's team work
began to break down in the final ten minutes and as Russia approached
players began playing individually, much to the detriment of the team.
Read more here.
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July 6, 2011 - Australia take Group E honors
Australia has won their top of the table Group E
clash with Poland, setting up a quarter final date with Serbia. For the
opening four games of the tournament it was Anthony Drmic doing most of
the scoring for the Australians. But when he found himself heavily
marked against Brazil it was Mitchell Creek stepping up to take over
scoring duties, subsequently seeing more than his fair share of
attention from Poland. So it was over to Jackson Aldridge to have his
day in the spotlight, with his game high 21 points leading Australia to
a comfortable 20-point victory over the Poles. Read more here.
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July 6, 2011 - USA suffer first loss
USA has lost their first game at the FIBA U19 World
Championships but it has not prevented them from remaining at the top
of Group F. The game was closely fought throughout its duration with
the only exception being at the end of the third quarter when Croatia
was able to gain a substantial 12 point lead. However, as expected USA
came out firing in the final quarter and when Patric Young slammed it
home with four minutes remaining USA was back in front. But with 48
seconds remaining young point guard Toni Katic - who would show himself
to be the difference between the two teams on the night - was able to
go to the basket and the draw the foul in the process, claiming the and
one and shift the momentum back in favor of the Croats. Read more here.
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July 6, 2011 - Serbia into quarters, dream over for Canada
Serbia has easily seen off Canada in their final
Group F Eighth-Quarter final match to qualify for the quarterfinals.
Canada had remained hopeful going into the game of upsetting the
Serbians and moving through to the quarterfinals ahead them. It became
apparent early on however that their plans were not going to come to
fruition with Serbia showing too much all round strength with six
players finishing the game in double figures. Canada's ambitions were
further dashed soon after halftime when big man Sim Bhullar was led
from courtside with a heavily bleeding nose. He would not return for
the remainder of the game. Read more here.
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July 5, 2011 - Australia cement quarter final berth
Even with Anthony Drmic having a rare cold night,
Australia has been able to see of Brazil, becoming the first team from
Group E to qualify for the quarter finals. The Australian small
forward, who has been tearing up the tournament to date by averaging
23.2 points struggled with the extra attention he drew from Brazil but
it did not matter as his team mates stepped up in his absence. Mitchell
Creek led the way with a game-high 23 points, while Jackson Hussey
showed the depth the Australian’s have off the bench, adding seven
points, including a crucial five at the end of the third quarter to
give Australia some breathing space heading into the final ten minutes,
and also earn himself praise from his coach, Damien Cotter following
the match. Read more here.
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July 5, 2011 - USA prevail in thrilling final rehearsal
In the game of the day dubbed a dress rehearsal of
what many expect to be this Championship's final, the USA showed that
their loss to Lithuania prior to the tournament had been nothing more
than an accident. The Americans started the stronger of the two sides
to be sitting comfortable for most of the opening stanza. Every time
that the Baltic team would threaten, NCAA champion Jeremy Lamb would
kill the Lithuanian’s hopes with some impressive inside and outside
shooting. In the third quarter Lithuania was able to overcome what had
built up to a 19 point deficit to trail by just two points. However, a
rising steal and turnover count prevented them from actually breaking
through and allowing the Americans to once again gain a significant
lead. Read more here.
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July 5, 2011 - Serbia win clash of the Balkans
Point guard Aleksander Cvetkovic has shown why he is
one of the hottest young talents in Europe right now, leading Serbia to
a five point victory over rivals Croatia. With the game poised to go
either way in the final few minutes, Cvetkovic stepped up to the mark
for Serbia, completing a sweet cross-over play for three points before
following it up by beating two defenders on the way to the basket for a
difficult lay-up, leaving Serbia in the box seat with time nearly up.
Croatia had done well to bring themselves back into the game after
trailing for most of it but when big man Dario Saric fouled out midway
through the final quarter an already tough assignment just become all
the more difficult. Read more here.
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July 5, 2011 - Canada hopes remain alive
Canada has seen off a depleted Egyptian team to keep
their hopes alive of advancing to the quarter final round. In a clash
of the two bottom teams in Group F, it was a Canadian side ably led by
Kevin Pangos that was coming out on top as Egyptian Coach Zaher
Abdelbasset could only watch as his already depleted lineup lost
another player. Following the departure of Hatem Hossam who flew back
to home to Egypt yesterday to receive further treatment on a leg
injury, Abdelbasset was about to suffer a further loss when Youssef
Shousha sustained what appeared to be a major wrist injury midway
through the second quarter, requiring the shooting guard to be taken to
hospital. Read more here.
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July 4, 2011 - USA – Hewitt: “We must play better, they must play worse”
One week ago the USA had just arrived in Europe and
were given a wakeup call by Lithuania in their final preparation game
for the FIBA U19 World Championship. One week on and the two teams are
preparing to meet on Tuesday in a preview of the final that many would
like – and expect – to see. Coming off Monday’s victory against Serbia
- their fourth in as many games – the Americans have gone from major
repairs to fine tuning, and USA head coach Paul Hewitt intent on
looking forwards, not back. Read more here.
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July 4, 2011 - Aussie battler mentality wins games and friends
Trailing Russia by 10 points late in the first half,
Australia have shown the never-say-die attitude that “Aussies” are
renowned for, coming back to knock their opponents over by seven points
and go top of Group E. It was going to take a lot to top the excitement
of the Egypt v Croatia game that had taken place earlier in the day but
Russia and Australia were about to give it their best shot. Following
the initial exchange of blows it was Russia who broke away first on the
back of another impressive shooting performance from small forward
Sergey Karasev who has quickly established himself as one of the
players to watch at this championship. Leading by ten midway through
the second quarter Russia were cruising against a team in need of a
spark to get them moving. Read more here.
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July 4, 2011 - EGY/CRO - Eigth-Quarter finals begin with thriller
Croatia and Egypt have rewarded the fans who turned
up early to Arena Riga on Monday, taking the opening game of the
Eighth-Quarter finals down to the wire. Returning to the court for the
first time since their shock loss to Korea, Croatia was back to full
strength with their trio of stars back in the starting lineup, seeing
them do it easy as their lead crept out to 15 early in the second half.
But a plucky Egyptian side - led by point guard Omar Mohammed and his
big men Assem Ahmed, Zyrad Mohamed - refused to go away, with a
succession of threes keeping them in contention. Read more here.
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July 4, 2011 - Poor finishing Serbia hand Lithuania victory
Monday's match of the day between Lithuania and
Serbia looked to be going the distance only for Lithuania to go on a
23-6 scoring spree in the final minutes to get home comfortably in the
opening Group F game. Lithuania started the stronger of the two sides,
scoring 11 of the first 13 points to put them in a comfortable position
up until midway through the third quarter when Serbia launched a
pursuit to tie the game up at 48 points apiece. But Lithuania, who were
being actively supported by a large contingent of fans, showed their
maturity and skill as star player Jonas Valanciunas claimed a rapid
fire seven points in a brief period to help his team once again break
away from Serbia. Read more here.
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July 4, 2011 - Group F preview – Heavyweight battles forecast
Among these are the Championship’s most obvious
title contenders, the USA and Lithuania, who will trade blows on
Tuesday as the Americans – the only remaining unbeaten team – will look
to avenge their pre-tournament defeat to Valanciunas and co. The USA,
who narrowly escaped a shock defeat to Serbia, seem to be moving up in
gears in spite and should be feeling fresh thanks to the most evenly
shared game time of any team. Point guard Joe Jackson and forward
Jeremy Lamb look a deadly combination with Paul Hewitt likely to
increasingly turn to them. Lithuania have recovered well from what
their head coach labelled “a cold shower” – an opening day defeat at
the hands of the young Croatian side, led by the extremely talented
trio of Boris Barac, Dario Saric and Tony Katic. Serbia and Croatia,
who like Lithuania lie 2 and 1, seem to rise to the challenge when
facing to opposition. In Katic and Aleksandar Cvetkovic, these two
teams possess two of the best point guards in this tournament However,
as they showed against China and Korea respectively – Croatia were
horrible in their loss to Korea – they can quickly go from looking like
title contenders to very average. Read more here.
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July 4, 2011 - Group E preview - Consistency will win through
When Poland, Brazil, Russia, Australia, Latvia and
Argentina arrived from Valmiera to Riga on Sunday they were welcomed by
conditions more appropriate for the beach than the hardwood floors of
Arena Riga. But soon after the rain was falling heavily, proving that
the local weather is just an unpredictable as the newly formed Group E.
All six of the teams come into this round boasting a two-win, one-loss
record seeing every team sitting on five points. During pool play, all
Group E participants showed an ability to beat anyone on their given
day but more worryingly for their respective coaches, they also showed
an inability to remain consistent. The four teams that move onto the
quarter finals from this group will ultimately come down to what teams
can bring their "A" game for three consecutive nights. Perhaps the most
consistent of all the teams - and one of the few that can be relatively
confident of progressing to the quarter finals - are Group A runners up
Brazil. It was only an individual piece of brilliance from Russian
Sergey Karasev that denied them an overtime showdown in their opening
game while they have grown with strength in their remaining two pool
games. Read more here.
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