Montenegro battle past Italy into Quarter-Finals, France and Spain survive scares

PODGORICA (FIBA U16 European Championship 2017) - Hosts Montenegro grabbed a spot in the Quarter-Finals of the FIBA U16 European Championship 2017 where they were joined by reigning champions Spain and France, who both received real scares; and a Croatia side that won their first game of the tournament.

Montenegro hassled Italian star Nico Mannion all night and it helped the hosts reach the Quarter-Finals.

Hosts Montenegro fed off the Podgorica crowd and held Italy to just 24 percent shooting in a 68-47 victory in the Round of 16. Stefan Vlahovic, Viktor Vujisic, Bojan Tomasevic and Jovan Kljajic combined for 61 of Montenegro's points to get the country back to the Quarter-Finals for a second straight year. Montenegro's defense did a good job keeping Italy's Nico Mannion in check with just 13 points on 3-of-17 shooting. Montenegro have secured a spot in the Division A next summer and now can shoot for a berth in the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2018 and then a spot on the podium. Next up for the hosts are Lithuania.

Lithuania were pretty much in control the whole time against Finland and won 70-58 with Marek Blazevic scoring 22 points to go with eight rebounds while Laurynas Vaistaras had 8 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks. Finland, who will play Italy in the Classification 9-16, got 12 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals from Thomas Exaucia.

#FIBAU16Europe Div.A: Germany vs Serbia
Serbia #11 Aleksandar Langovic DUNK!🏀 pic.twitter.com/YaCc97uAzi

— RK (@rkn0n3) August 15, 2017

Serbia returned to the Quarter-Finals after failing to reach the final eight in the last two editions by beating Germany 59-55. Aleksandar Langovic had a monster game of 18 points and 20 rebounds as well as some big dunks while Djordje Pazin added 15 points for the Serbs. Luc Van Slooten picked up 13 points and 4 steals for Germany, but he also fouled out and had 7 turnovers.

Serbia will square off against Spain in the Quarter-Finals in a matchup of true giants. Spain got out to a big lead early but then had to hold on for a 59-54 victory over Estonia. Santiago Aldama picked up 13 points and Golden Dike had 10 points and 10 rebounds in the win. Estonia, who were within one point after three quarters, could not hit their shots in the fourth quarter though Kaspar Kitsing had 15 points and Kerr Kriisa collected 10 points and 11 rebounds. Estonia will face Germany in the Classification 9-16 games.

Just like Spain, France also needed to survive a scare as winless Sweden were close throughout in a 73-68 win. France were paced by 23 points from Timothe Crusol while Killian Hayes just missed a triple double with 13 points, 13 rebounds, 9 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks. Sweden lost despite 18 points from Hugo Bergstrom. France will now take on Turkey in the final eight.

Turkey got ahead of Israel early and never let them get back into the game in an 89-66 victory with Mustafa Kurtuldum scoring 22 points and Omer Kucuk nearly picking up a triple double with 19 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds. The Turks held Deni Avdija in check with 10 points though Raziel Hayun picked up 14 points in the loss. Israel will take on Sweden.

France and Slovenia were the two undefeated teams in the Group Phase. But Slovenia's winning streak was snapped at three games by Croatia, who picked the perfect time for their first victory in winning 76-65 to reach the Quarter-Finals. Matej Rudan played all 40 minutes and collected 23 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals while Viktor Saric added 16 points and 10 rebounds in the victory.

Croatia will next face Latvia, who came back from an 11-point deficit in the final three minutes to beat Russia 84-81 in overtime. Kristaps Kilps had 22 points, 11 rebounds and six steals, including the three-pointer at the buzzer to tie the game and force overtime. Russia wasted 18 points, 13 rebounds, 4 steals, 3 blocks and 2 assists from Dmitrii Kadoshnikov. Russia and Slovenia will face off in Classification 9-16 action.

You can follow how the day's play unfolded on Live Updates, and check out full replays on YouTube.com/FIBA.

FIBA