GRE - Pappas show leads Greece to title

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MANNHEIM (Albert Schweitzer Tournament) - Kostas Papanikolaou scored 27 points and MVP Nikos Pappas had yet 
another outstanding game as Greece captured the title at the 24th Albert Schweitzer Tournament with a 96-82 victory over Turkey.

The Pappas show in Mannheim, Germany continued as the 17-year-old collected 17 points, nine rebounds and six assists, including a number of big baskets as Greece never let Turkey back into the game late.

Pappas was the tournament's second leading scorer with 21.2 points (first was U.S. point guard Irving Walker with 22.8) in leading Greece to their second Albert Schweitzer victory after the 2002 crown.

And the Panellinois playmaker is expected to be a critical part in Greece's chances at the U-18 European Championship this summer in his native Greece.

Greece really impressed throughout the tournament with their team work and defence with Pappas taking over games late with a very Theo Papaloukas-like knack for important driving lay-ups. But Georgias Vlassopoulos's side will have to prove themselves again this summer against many of the teams in the Mannheim field, which featured eight nations to be playing in Greece come July - not to mention those absent including Serbia, Lithuania and Slovenia.

Turkey's 15-year-old center Enes Kanter averaged 12.8 points and 10.8 rebounds in being named to the coaches' all-tournament team while also winning the Burkhard-Wildermuth Award as the player with the best perspective.

Rounding the top five were University of Florida recruit Walker, Croatia's tall and lanky small forward Tomislav Zupzic and Turkey power forward Deniz Kilicli.

Australia with their scrappy squad from the Australian Institute of Sports brought Greece to over-time in the semi-finals and then knocked off the United States 84-67 to take third place behind 20 points, nine rebounds and six assists by Matt Dellavedova.

Canada and their Sudanese-born wing player Mangisto Arop (20.5 points, 11.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.5 steals) finished fifth after beating Argentina.

Spain could have dominated if they had their superstar 17-year-old Ricky Rubio but finished seventh while Croatia (10th), France (11th), Italy (12th) and Russia (13th) all disappointed as their teams were missing key players.

Fans looking for NBA talent to come from this tournament may be disappointed as many NBA scouts say this edition's class was not as strong as the past. But many European scouts feel a number of these players will make big noise in European clubs over the coming years.

FIBA