SKOPJE (FIBA U18 European Championship 2018, Division B) – Only a single Quarter-Finalist is known in the FIBA U18 European Championship 2018, Division B ahead of the final game day of the Group Phase, with Slovenia securing an early bird Play-Off ticket on Tuesday.

The undefeated Slovenes inched closer towards regaining Division A status by moving their marker to 4-0 in Group D with a 73-66 victory over Slovakia, with Gregor Glas leading the way for coach Tomaz Fartek's side with a game-high 20 points.

Ziga Samar chipped in with 16 points, while Jure Licen and Rok Nemanic collected 10 points apiece in the win; Marcel Batovsky finished with a team-high 18 points for Slovakia.
Sweden go head-to-head with Scandinavian rivals Denmark for a spot in the last eight.

Having improved to a 3-1 record in the standings, Sweden also put themselves in a good position to extend their promotion bid with a 62-58 come-from-behind win over Bulgaria after trailing by as many as 16 points and entering the final stanza with down by five points. The loss knocks Bulgaria out of contention. They could tie with Denmark and Sweden, but have a losing record against both of the Scandinavian sides.

In the only other Group D contest, Denmark also stayed in the race by handing Albania an 87-40 blowout defeat, with Igor Bakic top-scoring the Scandinavians with 20 points and 9 rebounds. Denmark now play Sweden on Thursday, which is in effect a direct battle to see who will join Slovenia in the Quarter-Finals.

Despite keeping a perfect record with an 88-69 win over Hungary, Group B leaders Estonia will have to wait for Wednesday to clinch their Quarter-Final spot, with Belgium and Austria lurking close by with 3-1 marks.

Estonia have won all four of their games so far in Group B, but don't heave peace of mind yet

The Austrians kept their name in the game by holding off Azerbaijan, 62-60, thanks to an 18-point, 12-rebound double-double by Daniel Koppel, who also registered 3 blocks. Meanwhile, Belgium celebrated a more convincing 83-65 victory against Georgia.

Czech Republic saw their winning streak come to an end in Group C at the hands of the Netherlands, who came out on top 74-58 to put both teams in a three-way tie at the top of the standings with Israel. All three nations now share a 3-1 mark.

If all three teams defeat their opponents on Wednesday, Netherlands (+11) and Czech Republic (-5) would advance to the Quarter-Finals, and Israel (-6)  would be the odd team out due to their head-to-head point differential.

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia spun out of the race after losing to Israel, 81-57, while Luxembourg's hopes were wiped away with an 82-65 defeat against Iceland.

Portugal were the first team to stop Belarus in a closely-contested Group A

The situation in Group A can go five different ways on the final game day, with Portugal, Belarus, Norway, Poland and Romania maintaining hopes of making it out of the Group Phase.

The previously undefeated front-runners of the pack, Belarus, suffered their first blow of the tournament, falling to the Francisco Amarante-led Portugal with a 70-64 scoreline. Amarante paced the Portuguese side with a game-high 17 points, while Dzmitry Ryuny had 14 points and 21 rebounds for Belarus.

Heading into the final set of games, Portugal and Belarus share the top two spots with 3-1 marks, but Norway, Romania and Poland are within striking distance, just one win down. Norway nabbed their second win in a row in Group A by topping Switzerland 82-64, while Poland got the better of Romania, 84-71, in the last game of the day.

FIBA