GER - U17 Boys win international tournament in Manchester
Impressive performance by Menz' squad lifts Germany over England's U18 Team - Second tournament win on the road to Hamburg
HAMBURG. (FIBA U17 World Championship) - Germany's U17 Team ended the year 2009 with another trophy win. In late December, the hosts of the FIBA U17 World Championship in Hamburg remained unbeaten at an international tournament and are now looking forward to what the year 2010 will bring. The young Germans continued their impressive performances in the finale and celebrated their second trophy win with the 71:43 (21:12, 20:11, 13:8, 17:12) against Englands U18 Team. This was the second tournament win for Frank Menz' team on the road to Hamburg, after winning the ING-DiBa Junior Cup in July 2009.
Against England, (thrid in the B division in the European Championship in the summer 2009) Germany was able to rely on their excellent team play as well as their aggressive defense. In four of the five games at the international tournament in Manchester, the team of Frank Menz was able to hold their opponents below 50 points. Offensively, Malik Müller who was named MVP of the tournament, got some good looks and led the team that featured five new players.
German Head Coach Frank Menz was very pleased after the tournament: "We played a very good tournament and were even able to increase the intensity in the finale. The team has done a great job defensively and remained physically strong, despite the fact that we played older teams (U18 and U19) only. The new guys that have been added to the team fit right in and had a lot of impact."
Germany played with:
Paul Albrecht (TuS Jena), Besnik Bekteshi (BSG Ludwigsburg), Fabian Bleck (Phoenix Hagen), Anselm Hartmann (TuS Jena), Stephan Haukohl (TuS Jena), Jakob Krumbeck (TuS Jena), Max Merz (Eintracht Frankfurt), Malik Müller (SG Urspringschule), Josip Peric (ALBA Berlin), Leon Tolksdorf (ALBA Berlin), Tim Unterluggauer (TSV Bayer Leverkusen), and Jonathan Malu (SOBA Rhöndorf).