NOVI SAD (FIBA U16 European Championship 2018) - The stage is set for the grand finale of the championship in Serbia. Spain will take on Croatia in the Final, trying to make it two titles in three years.

Spain endured another physical battle, this time with Turkey in the Semi-Finals, and a gamble at the start the second half did not hurt them on the path to a 67-57 win. They opted to leave Usman Garuba on the bench in the opening minutes of the third quarter, resulting in a quick 6-0 run by Turkey which made it a 34-32 game, but as soon as their center was back in the game, the lead was in safe hands.

Garuba did not have a huge game offensively, but his defensive presence was evident in Spain being a +16 team with him on the floor, and he will add another double-double to his book with 14 points and 18 rebounds.

Spain got a lot out of their team captain. Hector Alderete scored 14 of his 25 point in the first half, leading the team in red to a date with Croatia in the Final.

The Croats are the streak-busters of Novi Sad. After they had handed Lithuania their first defeat in the Quarter-Finals, they have done the same to France in the Semi-Finals, collecting a 65-58 win.

The recipe for the win stayed the same for Croatia - all they had to do was connect four. Roko Prkacin was superb, with 21 points, 15 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks, giving him an efficiency rating of 35. Captain Matej Bosnjak had 16 points and 11 rebounds, Boris Tisma struggled shooting the ball, but made the dagger three-pointer with 1:30 left to play, giving him 14 points for the game.

Ivan Perasovic scored 13 points, meaning all of the other players outside of the Big Four scored a single point in the Semi-Final! It was Filip Paponja, splitting a pair of free throws in the second half.

The Netherlands and Georgia are the first two teams to get relegated to Division B. Slovenia handed the Oranje a 77-62 defeat, while Montenegro needed a put-back slam from Fedor Zugic with 2.8 seconds to go, to make it an 83-81 win over Georgia. Montenegro and Slovenia play each other on Saturday to avoid the third ticket to Division B.

Top scorer of the day: The put-back dunk was Zugic's way of climbing to 30 points on the day. Georgia played box-and-one defense against the 14-year-old for most of the second half, but he got free for the game-winning rebound, keeping Montenegro's chances of survival alive.

Top rebounder of the day: Garuba. Seemed like every single board was his today, 18 rebounds for the big man were almost half of all the Spanish rebounds on the day (41).

Garuba wants all the rebounds in Serbia

Top passer of the day: Amit Aharoni once again delivered for Israel, handing out 8 assists in a 72-71 win over Estonia. Zurab Vashakidze of Georgia also dished out 8 dimes.

Top thief of the day: The Netherlands will go down to Division B, but not because of Sam Mike Vianen. He went all-round for 7 points, 6 rebounds and 6 steals, topping the stealing chart for the day.

Top blocker of the day: Israel's Gilad Levy back to his good old habits, his 6 blocks complemented the 13 points and 17 boards from the 7ft 1in (2.15m) man.

FIBA