Serbian U20 Squad Advances to Q-Finals

The Serbian U20 squad booked their ticket to the quarterfinals of the  U20 European Championship after winning over host team Italy, 6761. It was one of three games that were played. Israel fell to Belgium 68-79 and Latvia bowed to France, 50-57. Serbia has looked great so far in the tournament and remain unbeaten. They top the Group E standings with their 3-0  record. Belgium and France are both 2-1 and Italy and Israel are at 1-2. Latvia is at the bottom of the group, failing to come up with a win in three games.

Serbia rode an 8-0 rally late in the game to pull ahead of the Italian team in the last few minutes. Serbia owe the win to their stingy defense, which they raised to another level in the last three minutes of the game. They pressured their hosts to no end and were able to come away with seven steals in the process. The main man for Serbia was Marko Guduric who came up big during Serbia’s 8-0 run.

Latvia fell to France on very poor shooting from close range. France dominated the action in the paint and controlled the glass on both ends. France ground out their opponents with good defensive pressure in this low-scoring game. Alpha Kaba was a beast on the boards for France, cleaning up on the offensive end of the floor.

Belgium played to their strengths and remained aggressive on offense in their game against Israel. They established an early 19-11 advantage and did not look back from there. Israel was able to slow them down, but not enough to wrench the lead. Israel was successful when they were able to initiate a fast-break play, but Belgium stopped them in their tracks when it came to the half-court game. Emmanuel Lacomte, the tournament’s leading scorer with 20.0 ppg, dominated Israel with his 16 points and tournament-high 17 boards.