By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The Olympic Qualifying Tournaments have reached the knockout stage and the semifinals across the four locations have been playing out as the teams try to get one step closer to the Tokyo ticket.
With the finals deciding the four tickets left for the Olympics, here are the four couples.
Lithuania – Slovenia (Kaunas, Lithuania)
Serbia – Italy (Belgrade, Serbia)
Germany – Brazil (Split, Croatia)
Czech Republic – Greece (Victoria, Canada)
Olympic Qualifying Tournament – Kaunas, Lithuania
Slovenia – Venezuela 98-70
Slovenia continued strongly in the tournament led by the NBA-EuroLeague guard-center duo of Luka Doncic and Mike Tobey. Doncic was in full control, as usual, covering all the bases with a near-triple-double of 23 points, 13 assists, and nine rebounds.
Tobey was the regular customer on the receiving end of the passes and it pushed him to 27 points while he also grabbed 12 boards and shot 3-5 from deep. For Venezuela, Michael Carrera and Pedro Chourio scored 16 points each.
Lithuania – Poland 88-69
Domantas Sabonis and Jonas Valanciunas grabbed eight rebounds each and scored 17 and 15 points respectively to establish their dominance in the paint which pushed Lithuania to the win over Poland and the Final.
Mantas Kalnietis added 14 and Rokas Jokubaitis 13 points while Marius Grigonis had ten. For Poland, AJ Slaughter logged 19 and Mateusz Ponitka ten points.
Olympic Qualifying Tournament – Belgrade, Serbia
Serbia – Puerto Rico 102-84
Serbia was struggling with injuries during the tournament but they had both Vasilije Micic and Nemanja Bjelica on the court for the semifinal duel and it worked wonders for their victory.
EuroLeague MVP Micic banked in 21 points and dished out eight assists to lead the way while Nemanja Bjelica scored 18. Milos Teodosic logged a double-double with 11 points and ten assists in his usual manner with a couple of stellar passes.
Isaiah Pineiro scored 23 and George Conditt 20 points for Puerto Rico. Gary Browne had a double-double of his own with 12 points and ten assists.
Italy – Dominican Republic 79-59
The Italians got the job done led by Simone Fontecchio. He scored 17 in addition to Stefano Tonut’s 14 points during this relatively low-scoring affair.
For the Dominican Republic, Brandone Edward Francis Ramirez had 12 and Adonys Henriquez ten points.
Olympic Qualifying Tournament – Victoria, Canada
Canada – Czech Republic 101-103 (94-94)
Thanks to a 10-0 run in the last minute of the game, Canada managed to send it to overtime, tying the score to 94-94. And with 15 seconds left in overtime, the score was tied once again at 101. And then Tomas Satoransky made the biggest shot in the game, giving the Czech Republic a 103-101 lead. With 1.8 seconds left Trey Lyles had the chance to tie the game but missed.
Satoransky with 18 points was the hero of the night, however, 37-years old Blake Schilb with 31 and 7 assists was the MVP of the winning side. Andrew Wiggins who sent the game to overtime had 22 points and RJ Barrett scored 23, but it was not enough for the hosts of the tournament.
Turkey – Greece 63-81
After a mediocre first period, in which Turkey got a 22-8 lead, Greece picked up the pace and ultimately got a relatively easy win. Rick Pitino’s players dominated the second half with a partial 54-29 score and led even by 19 (79-60).
Nick Calathes led the second-half charge with 18 points, six rebounds, and six assists, George Papagiannis (14 p. 13 r.) and Konstantinos Mitoglou (10 p. 12 r.) finished the game with double-doubles, while Kostas Sloukas had 15 points and nine assists. Furkan Korkmaz scored 20 points for the losing side.
Olympic Qualifying Tournament – Split, Croatia
Germany – Croatia 86-76
Germany and Croatia played a very close game in the semis and the victor got decided in the last two minutes as Germany, led by Maodo Lo, made a 10-0 run to break the tie (76-76) and finish the game in their favor.
Lo went off for 29 points and eight assists followed by Joshiko Saibou with 13 and Andreas Obst with 11 points. For Croatia, Bojan Bogdanovic was huge with 38 points, proving once again that he’s always at his best when wearing the national team jersey. Hezonja helped with 14 points.
Brazil – Mexico 102-74
Vitor Benite was on fire for the Brazilian squad as he went 8-11 from the field including 6-8 from the three-point range, showing off his shooting form. Rafael Luz scored 12 and Alex Garcia 11 points.
On the opposing side, Pako Cruz logged 18 points, six rebounds, six assists, and Gustavo Ayon 16 points.