By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The Czech Republic easily defeated Estonia 80-57 in the opening game of the tournament in Riga.
The Czechs, who didn’t have such a hot preparation period (they lost seven of the overall nine games), dominated the affair with Jan Vesely scoring the most points for his team with 16 and getting 8 boards. The naturalized Galatasaray player Blake Schilb was not far behind with a solid 14 points (4 rebounds, 1 assist). Jelinek also contributed 11 points and 3 assists.
For the Estonians, the experienced 32-year-old Kristjan Kangur couldn’t offer much help, scoring 8 points and getting 3 rebounds. The small forward Siim-Sander Vene, with an impressive double-double, was the best player for the defeated, racking up 18 points but also collecting 13 rebounds and dishing 2 assists. In terms of three-point shooting – which is probably Estonia’s biggest strength – they underperformed with a meager 4-of-20 (20%).
Like Vesely said after the game, “Estonia are not that big under the basket so we tried to push the ball down and to stop the three-point shot, and we did both so we are happy. We stopped their three-point shot and that was the key to the game.” Satoransky echoed this view, saying, “We wanted to play aggressive defense and not allow them any easy points. They are very good shooters so we stopped this.”
Estonia’s coach Tiit Sokk added, “We missed a couple of easy shots, they had the lead and they grew in confidence and after that it was quite easy for them to keep the point difference. They forced us to make too many turnovers so they got easy points.”
The Czechs now face Ukraine and for Estonia, next up is Belgium.