Iceland set up Final clash with Serbia as both earn promotion

TBILISI (Georgia) - Serbia and Iceland have secured promotion to Division A after booking their spots in Sunday's Final while Estonia and Finland will fight not only for third place at FIBA U20 European Championship 2022, Division B but also for the last remaining ticket to the top flight.

Iceland put on a show against Finland in the Semi-Finals on Saturday. They scored with ease to get a 94-77 win, staying in control from start to finish, as they built a 22-point lead at one point and outscored the Finns 46-20 in the paint.

However, the biggest offensive threat came from the outside. Orri Gunnarsson continued his impressive run at the event, knocking down 7-of-10 three-pointers, getting a personal high of 27 points in Georgia. Gunnarsson is now shooting 19-of-39 from deep - that's 48.7 percent on 6.5 thee-point attempts per game.

He was not alone in his quest to defeat Finland. Thorvaldur Arnason did a bit of everything, with 10 points, 10 assists, 9 rebounds and 4 steals. His stat line would've been more impressive if he hadn't turned the ball over ten times.

Finland got 20 points from Hugo Boman off the bench, but coach Petri Virtanen will need more on Sunday. His team gets one more chance to reach next year's Division A basketball, as they will face Estonia in the 3rd-Place Game on Sunday.

In the early Semi-Final clash, Estonia were no match for Serbia's tough defense. The Baltic team were held to 20 first-half points as Serbia raced to a n early 20-point lead and cruised to a 73-58 triumph to make their way back to the FIBA U20 European Championship, Division A next year. 

Mihailo Boskovic had 17 points and 7 rebounds, Vojin Medarevic added 16 off the bench, while Mihailo Musikic and Nikola Manojlovic combined for 20 on the night. Coach Vladimir Jovanovic will be proud of his defense, as Serbia allowed only six three-pointers on 29 attempts by Estonia.

Other than the Final and the 3rd-Place game, the last day of competition will also see classification games with Slovakia and Luxembourg playing for 17th spot. Romania and Albania will fight for 15th place, Switzerland and the Netherlands for 13th, while the hosts take on Kosovo in the battle for 11th in Tbilisi.

Hungary and Ireland are playing the 9-10 game, North Macedonia and Bulgaria will give the answer to who finishes 7th and 8th, and Latvia take on Sweden in the 5th- place game.

FIBA