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15 - 24
July 2016
4 Vasileios Toliopoulos (GRE)
18/07/2016
News
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Greece march on, Croatia sneak win, Iceland hold their nerve

CHALKIDA (FIBA U20 European Championship 2016 Division B) - Greece, Croatia, Montenegro, Great Britain and Poland are the only unbeaten teams left at the Championship after the first three days of competition in Chalkida.

Greece cruised to another comfortable win with a 97-35 triumph over Albania in Group C. The hosts were enjoying a double-digit lead already after the first period and continued to build their advantage, winning the final quarter 31-4. Vasileios Toliopoulos was on fire. He finished with 29 points on 9-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-7 from beyond the arc, all of that in less than 24 minutes of play. The other Vasileios was also strong, as Charalampopoulos collected 18 points and five rebounds in 22 minutes.

Also on a perfect 3-0 record in Group C are Great Britain. Their 72-58 charge against Kosovo was led by Jules Dang Akodo, who flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 15 points, and game-highs of 10 rebounds, seven assists and four steals. Pharroh Gordon led the scoring with 17 points ahead of their final two Group C games, against Netherlands and Greece. The Dutch lost to Ireland 64-58, which means both of those teams are at 1-2 after three games.

In Group D, Croatia edged out Bosnia and Herzegovina 70-66. Luka Bozic came up big in the final quarter, as he turned a 63-61 deficit into a 67-63 lead with a couple of three pointers just two minutes before the end of the game. Bozic had 11 of his 13 points in the fourth period, Lovro Mazalin scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Croatia. Aleksandar Lazic had 22 points and 13 rebounds for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Romania defeated Bulgaria 76-49 in the other Group D game, joining the fight for the second round.

Iceland continued their fine form with a 75-72 win over Estonia in Group B. Finnur Freyr Stefansson's players held their nerve from the free-throw line when it mattered most, as Petur Runar Birgisson ended with a game-high 19 points and six steals. Poland defeated Russia 70-60 to climb up to 2-0 in the group. Dominik Olejniczak was the top scorer of a balanced Polish offence with 13 points.

Montenegro lead the way in Group A. Petar Popovic and Ognjen Carapic scored 10 points each in a 66-36 win over Portugal, who shot just 4-of-28 from long range. Georgia reached their first win of the tournament. They left the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia behind 85-61. Levan Maskhulia had 18 points, four rebounds and four assists.

FIBA