ORADEA (FIBA U20 European Championship 2017, Division B) - Romania and Croatia punched their promotion tickets in the FIBA U20 European Championship 2017, Division B in Oradea after winning their respective Semi-Finals against Russia and Great Britain.

Romania earned a place in Division A for the first-time ever, while Team Croatia have been in Division B since 2016. There is still one more promotion spot left, with the winner of the third-place game also moving on up.

Tournament hosts Romania won an 87-79 overtime thriller against Russia in front of strong home support after a three-pointer by Agasiy Tonoyan with less than 10 seconds on the game clock tied things up at the end of regulation.

Emanuel Cate went 8-of-10 from the field for a team-high 19 points and completed another double-double performance with 10 rebounds and 6 blocks. Grigory Motovilov had 20 points and 6 assists for Russia.

Croatia joined Romania in the Final with a 79-72 victory over Great Britain behind an 18-point, 6-rebound and 5-assist performance of Roko Badzim. Mate Kalajzic also added 18 points for Croatia, while Carl Wheatle had 20 points and 8 rebounds for Great Britain.

Meanwhile, Poland and Belgium bounced back after losing their Quarter-Finals battles on Friday by getting off to a positive start in the Classification Games for 5th to 8th places, defeating Georgia and Portugal respectively.

The Polish side rode their hot start to inscribe a 91-70 victory over Georgia, with Jakub Musial scoring a tournament-high 35 points after going 8-of-11 from three-point range. Belgium did not have the hardest of games either, downing Portugal 87-62.

In the Classification Games for 9-12th places, Finland scorched Hungary 68-56, while Netherlands earned a 66-60 victory and will face off with the Finnish players for the higher spot in the final standings.

Slightly lower in the table, Albania registered 74-62 win over Slovak Republic and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia edged Belarus 62-58. The winners will play each other to decide the outcome of 13th place.

Ireland, who topped Classification Group E, will contend for 17th place with Armenia after blowing out Malta 91-61. Consequently, Malta will play Azerbaijan on the final day of the tournament in the Classification Game for 19th place.

FIBA