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FIBA U17 World Championships from Hamburg: Day 1

The first day of the preliminary round of the FIBA U17 World Championships has been completed in Hamburg, Germany. There were no real surprises. The day was highlighted by the USA's 82-70 victory over Argentina and Germany's 69-68 thriller over Canada.

In the other games, Lithuania defeated China 85-72, Serbia had no problem with Egypt in a 99-67 win, Poland has a surprisingly easy time with Australia beating the Aussies 71-54 and Spain beat Korea 86-71.

The best game of the day was Germany's squeaker over Canada. The game was tight throughout, Germany led 34-33 at halftime and 55-51 after three quarters.Germany maintained a small lead through the first part of the final stanza until the Canadians tied it at 62 on a three-pointer from 6'7 Anthony Bennett with 4:21 left. The Germans took another small lead, then Kevin Pangos brought Canada within one at 67-66 with 1:10 left. Besnik Bekteshi was fouled with 52 seconds and made both free throws to put the Germans up by three. Canada countered with a drive from Dyshawn Pierre to cut it to 69-68 with 38 seconds left. Julius Wolf of Germany then missed a three -pointer giving the Canadians a chance to win it. They had 18 seconds to do it. First Anthony Bennett missed a three, Kevin Pangos snuck it and got the rebound but couldn't convert at the buzzer. The Germans escaped with a one-point win. German point guard Besnik Bekteshi was outstanding with 27 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. He was matched by his counterpart, Canadian point Kevin Pangos who scored 26 points but was sloppy with the ball in commiting 10 turnovers.

The USA-Argentina contest was well played and close throughout although the decision was never in doubt. 6'7 Michael Gilchrist took control of the game for the Americans with 22 points and 15 rebounds. The USA had a 57-35 rebounding advantage, 6'11 Andre Drummond of St. Thomas More Prep pulled down 10 rebounds in 19 minutes of action.

Some of the other better individual performance of the day included:

• Mantas Mockevicius scored 20 points in Lithuania's win as he made 12 trips to the foul line.
• 6'8 power forward Luka Mitrovic led Serbia with 18 points and 6 rebounds
• 6'4 shooting gaurd Michal Michalak played the best overall game for Poland with 18 points on 3 three-pointers and 6 rebounds.
• Spain was led by 21 points and 13 rebounds from 6'8 power forward Daniel Diez who plays for Real Madrid's junior team.

Tomorrow's best matchups include the USA vs. Lithuania and Germany vs. Spain.

Carl Berman is a Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball and can be followed on twitter @carlberman. Thanks to FIBA for the photos.

FIBA U17 World Championships from Hamburg: Day 2

The USA remained undefeated in the FIBA U17 Championships with an easy 102-66 win over Lithuania. The Americans ended the first quarter with a 32-13 lead and never looked back. 6'3 Bradley Beal and 6'8 James McAdoo paced the USA with 16 points apiece. Andre Drummond continued his strong play with 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting and 5 rebounds in 14 minutes of action.

In Group B Poland and Germany remained undefeated. Poland defeated Korea 101-83 as 6'5 shooting guard Mateusz Ponitka scored 26 points on 11-for-18 shooting making four three-pointers. The Germans defeated a tough Spanish team 74-64. 6'11 center Bogdan Radosavljevic scored 18 points to go along with six rebounds.

Canada handed Australia their second straight loss in a 76-68 Canadian victory. Anthony Bennett continued his strong play for the Canadians with 16 points. China surprised Serbia 74-71 in a game that was close throughout. 6'4 combo guard Ailun Guo had his second strong game in a row with 25 points and eight assists. Argentina demolished Egypt in the other game 98-69. Luciano Massarelli led Argentina with 21 points in 19 minutes.

After two games the USA is the only undefeated team in Group A while Poland and Germany are undefeated in Group B. The action continues on Monday with Germany vs. Poland as the featured matchup. The Argentina-Serbia and Canada-Spain games should also be good ones.

Related Post:

FIBA U17 Championships - Day 1

Carl Berman is a Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball and can be followed on twitter @carlberman. Thanks to FIBA for the photos.

FIBA U17 World Championships from Hamburg: Preliminary Round

The USA doesn't look like they will be seriously challenged in the FIBA U17 World Championships. After their lopsided wins the first two days the Americans continued on that path with victories over China 113-73, Egypt 132-64 and defeating Serbia today 112-75. Against China, James McAdoo scored 26 points on 13-for-14 shooting. The game against Egypt was tough to watch as the Americans raced out to a 76-22 halftime lead. The Serbia game was slightly more competitive as the USA was lead by Bradley Beals' 20 points and McAdoo's 15 points and 13 rebounds. The quarterfinals start on Friday.

The surprise of the tournament has been Poland. The Poles shockingly beat a decent German team 79-33. They followed that up with wins over Spain 88-82 in overtime and Canada 75-70. In the German romp, center Przemyslaw Karnowski led the Poles with 24 points and 9 rebounds. He followed that up with 20 points and 12 rebounds and 14 points and 10 rebounds in the following two games. The Poles are undefeated at 5-0 in Group B.

Canada sits in second place in Group B at 3-2 after their loss to Poland, Kevin Pangos has had a nice tournament averaging over 16 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.

Lithuania finished in second place in Group A at 4-1 after their 74-71 win over a dissapointing (1-4) team from Argentina. On to the quarterfinals.

Carl Berman is a Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball.

Poland and the USA Fight for the Gold in Hamburg

Poland and the USA will fight for the gold in Hamburg.

Two great generations and the only two unbeaten teams remaining in the tournament. The United States and Poland will meet in the U17 World Championship gold medal game tomorrow after beating Canada and Lithuania in the semifinals. Both have been clearly the better teams in Germany and will fight for the final victory in a must-see game.

The United States topped Canada 103-83 with the same recipe but a longer effort than the previous games. Canada’s zone defense was effective at times and the Northern neighbor kept the game alive until the end of the third period. Team USA’s scoring was based on fastbreaks and quick offensive transitions, led by an outstanding performance of Michael Gilchrist, who scored 30 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.

The USA tried to run away as soon as possible, running the floor and putting pressure on the rival ball movement and looked like they succeeded  when the gap went up to 21 points (44-23) in the second quarter. Canada reacted very well, with patience and smartness, and recovered step by step. Pangos and Webster-Chan scoring left the difference at six (48-42) before halftime. The Canadian zone defense really stopped its rival and their offense avoided turnovers and American fastbreaks. Team USA kept the lead (75-65) with individual actions and offensive  rebound dominance while 15 years old Canadian Andrew Wiggins (20 points) showed all his early talent and physical tools in the third period.

The Americans started the last period strongly and Canada couldn’t react anymore. Again, fastbreaks, highlight reel showtime and U.S authority against a rival claiming for surrender. Bradley Beal, with 17 points, followed Gilchrist leadership. Kevin Pangos added 17 points but 9 turnovers for Canada.

From an American to a European clash. Poland’s sensational generation maturation process has taken them to the World Championship medal game as they got their revenge from last summer’s U16 Eurobasket semifinal against Lithuania (75-65). The Lithuanians started better, displaying their incisive offense and intense defense and took the first leads of the game (21-12) against a raw Poland.

With Karnowski struggling shooting from inside, Poland’s big reaction was led by outstanding forward Mateusz Ponitka. With 14 points in a row, Ponitka gave the lead to his team before halftime (39-38). From the beginning of third period, Poland showed it was a better team and managed the rest of the game, but never with big advantages as Lithuanian faith and courage kept them alive. Ponitka finished the game with 22 points and missed some help from perimeter partner Michal Michalak, lost into foul trouble, but bench player Matczak did a great job contributing in so many ways beyond the stats during the second half. Karnowski, who played 37 minutes, did not have a great day (6/18 from the field) but took a lot of responsibility from the low post and sealed a double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds. He won the battle against Zalgiris Kaunas center Simonas Kymantas (8 points and 12 rebounds). Lithuanian resistance was led by Mantas Mockevicius, who scored 24 points from his assertive and full of energy drives to the basket. Skills beat passion and Poland prevailed.

A great matchup tomorrow between United States and Poland for the gold medal. Tons of talent, athleticism and skills from best 1993 generations from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The game will start at 4pm CET.

Alejandro Gonzalez is an International Scout and Correspondent for NetScouts Basketball