YEREVAN (Armenia) - Latvia are the FIBA U20 EuroBasket 2025, Division B winners after beating Croatia 74-64 in Sunday's Final in Yerevan. Türkiye won the battle for the third place by beating Switzerland to take the third promotion spot alongside the finalists.
Latvia - who were once runners-up at the Division A level - got their first title in Division B thanks to a strong start in the Final. They went on a 12-0 run early on to lead by as many as 17 points in the first quarter.
However, Croatia refused to give up. Seeing that they pulled off a similar comeback in the Semi-Finals against Türkiye, Croatia went on a run to fight back and cut the lead to just five points in the second quarter. It was Latvia's 36-29 lead at the half, but the Croatian spirit endured and Andro Mirceta's free throws even gave Croatia a short 47-46 edge with 2:34 on the clock in the third period.
It was an even game at the start of the last quarter, but Latvia capitalized on their domination in the paint and at the glass - grabbing offensive rebounds and knocking down free throws when needed to bring their lead back to seven points.
Croatia didn't have it in themselves to pull off one last miracle, so Latvia celebrated the title led by tournament MVP Rolands Sulcs and his 18 points and 8 rebounds. Janis Junemanis recorded a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds with Noa Zemljic scoring 20 for the runners-up.
Earlier, Türkiye had it smooth sailing against Switzerland and recorded an 86-54 win that got them their place on the podium and a spot at next year's Division A event in Slovenia. It's a return to the elite for the 2014 champions after only one year in Division B.
It was already a 17-point edge for Türkiye at the end of the first period and that lead only continued to grow. Switzerland couldn't get close and another big run in the fourth quarter sealed the deal for Türkiye as they blew up the difference to 32 points.
Salih Altuntas recorded 14 points and 6 rebounds for the victors, whereas Atakan Murat Bicer led the scoring with 16 points in under 20 minutes of play. Berk Can Akin added 15 points and grabbed up 9 rebounds.
Diego Roman recorded a 12-points, 12-rebound double-double for Switzerland, who missed out on a promotion.
Final
Croatia 64-74 Latvia
Third-Place Game
Türkiye 86-54 Switzerland
FIBA