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12 - 20
August 2022
Team France
14/08/2022
Review
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France escape in overtime, Spain rally from behind

SKOPJE (North Macedonia) - The second day of action wrapped up at the FIBA U16 European Championship on Saturday and only Lithuania, Slovenia, Italy and Greece remain undefeated heading into the final day of group play.

Group A

France got things underway with a thrilling overtime victory over Israel, 92-80. The game ended up being a 12-point margin after France outscored their opponents 17-5 in the extra five minutes.

Six players scored in double figures for France and three of them - Nolan Traore (19 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals), Mohamed Diakite (11 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists) and Talis Soulhac (10 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals) - all recorded a double-double.

Ben Saraf led Israel with 21 points on 5-of-14 shooting from three-point.

Lithuania stayed undefeated after getting past Netherlands 80-73. Netherlands led by as many as 13 and were up 24-16 after the first quarter, but Lithuania ramped up the energy, winning the second quarter 26-14.

Kasparas Jakucionis had a nice all-around game for Lithuania off the bench with 17 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals. Lithuania had a wide advantage over Netherlands in points from turnovers (25-5) as well as points from the bench (38-16).

Group B

Slovenia remained unbeaten at 2-0 after giving Croatia their first loss of group play, 83-64, in wire-to-wire fashion. 42 of Slovenia's points came from behind the arc and eight of their players made at least one three-pointer.

Urban Kroflic impressed again for Slovenia, finishing with 22 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals. He also shot 50 percent from both the field and three-point range.

Serbia grabbed their first win of the tournament over Denmark, 77-56. Serbia trailed 25-20 after one quarter, but quickly turned things around, outscoring Denmark the rest of the way by 26 points.

Ognjen Radosic paced Serbia with 26 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals while shooting 9-of-17 from the field. As a team, Serbia only connected on 2-of-13 shots from beyond the arc, but it was of little concern, as they dominated in points in the paint, scoring 52 from in close.

Group C

Turkey captured a 60-51 win over Latvia behind Demir Dogan's 18 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 shooting from three-point.

Latvia struggled to take care of the ball, turning it over 26 times which led to 21 points for Turkey.

Italy also emerged victorious in Group C, pulling out a nail biter over Poland, 72-69. Trailing by two with nine seconds left, Poland had a chance to tie the game at the free throw line, but Bartosz Lesniak only converted 1-of-2 shots. Italy then put a stamp on the game with a breakaway layup.

Both teams had a 20-point scorer who shot the ball efficiently, as Italy's Samuele Miccoli finished with 22 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists on 10-of-14 shooting from the field, while Poland's Mateusz Orlowski had 24 points and 3 rebounds on 8-of-12 shooting from the field.

Group D

After being down by as many as 17 points, Spain came all the way back to beat Montenegro 74-66 behind 28 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals from Mario Saint-Supery. A 44-25 second half from Spain helped complete the comeback.

Montenegro's David Mirkovic put up another impressive stat line in the loss, playing all 40 minutes and recording 20 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks.

In the other Group D game, Greece took down hosts North Macedonia in a blowout, 78-48. Four players scored in double figures for Greece and all but one player scored. Filippos Tsachtsiras put up a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

FIBA