BRATISLAVA/PIESTANY (FIBA U18 European Championship 2017) - Finland shocked last year’s runners-up Lithuania in the opening fixture of the FIBA U18 European Championship 2017 in Bratislava, while Spain and Russia were the brightest-shining teams on Saturday in Piestany.

Little did anyone expect the Finnish side to dominate FIBA U16 European Championship 2015 and FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2016 bronze medalists Lithuania but that is exactly what they did, inscribing a big 82-62 victory in Group C.

Miika Heinonen and Mikael Jantunen shared a game-high 20 points each, with the latter also adding 14 rebounds to his performance. The trio of Arnas Velicka, Lukas Uleckas and Ignas Sargiunas combined only for 9-of-36 shooting for Lithuania, with Uleckas being the top scorer with 14 points.

In other Group C game of the day, Greece registered an 81-67 victory against Slovenia behind a 24-point, 8-assist and 5-rebound performance by Dimitrios Moraitis.

Bosnia and Herzegovina guard Sani Campara stole the show at the Hant Arena earlier in the day, guiding the Boris Dzidic-coached side to a 66-65 win over defending champions France in Group D with a tournament-high 32 points.

Having got off to a good start in their Division A debut, the tournament hosts Slovak Republic couldn’t ride their momentum all the way, falling short against Latvia 78-61 with Rainers Hermanovskis scoring 18 points and dishing out 5 assists for the victorious Latvians.

Meanwhile in Piestany, one of the tournament favorites Spain proved their credentials by covering a double-digit deficit against Serbia to snatch a 76-70 victory in Group B. Miguel Gonzalez had a team-high 16 points and 4 assists for the winners, while Marko Pecarski dropped 21 points and 8 boards.

Italy also got on the board in the group with a 69-52 win over Ukraine behind a Guglielmo Caruso double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Vainalovych scored 12 points for Ukraine.

Russia and Turkey got off to wins in Group A, the Russians downing the Marko Simonovic-led Montenegro 81-71 in spite of the big man’s 27-point and 9-rebound performance, while Turkey celebrated a 70-61 win over Germany.

You can follow how the day's play unfolded on Live Updates, and check out full replays on YouTube.com/FIBA

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