By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
The U18 European championship in Nis, Serbia, got off to a rough start due to difficult conditions in the venues caused by heavy rain. But as the tournament went along, things improved, and the focus was only on basketball.
The hosting nation, Serbia, kept winning and made it to the finals against the reigning champions, Spain. Led by Crvena Zvezda’s Nikola Topic and Real Madrid’s Mitar Bosanjakovic, they won the gold with an impressive 81-71 victory in the final.
Topic led his team to glory with 24 points and eight assists for a PIR of 24 in the championship game, and in the end, won the MVP honors. He averaged 15.3 points, 5.1 assists, 3.7 rebounds, and two steals per game throughout the tournament.
Bosnjakovic also had a great final match and was the X-factor for the Serbian national team, with 21 points and seven rebounds. He will certainly remember this year for a long, long time, as he also won the EuroLeague title with Real Madrid’s youth team in Kaunas.
Andrej Musicki followed them with 12 points on the winning side.
As for Spain, Mario Saint Supery had 17 points, Hugo Gonzalez added 16, while Lucas Langarita and Aday Mara contributed 12 points each.
Germany defeated France 67-59 in the third-place match, with Johann Grunloh scoring 15 points, while Jack Kayil and Christian Anderson added 14 points apiece.
Photo: fiba.basketball