Lithuania defeat Spain to win FIBA U16 European Championship title
Lithuanians prevailed 77-68 in the Final on Saturday while France grabbed third place prevailing over Greece. Serbia stays in Division A
Lithuania claimed the 2022 FIBA U16 European Championship title after beating Spain 77-68 in the Final on Saturday.
Mantas Laurencikas top scored with 26 points along with 6 rebounds and 3 steals as Lithuania ended a run of four straight Final losses in the competition to be crowned champions for the first time since 2008.
Lithuania started strong to lead by 14 at half-time and despite Spain closing to within three points in the fourth quarter, they were able to close out the win.
Mario Saint-Supery was named tournament MVP and finished with 31 points in the Final defeat with Lithuania’s Nojus Indrusaitis earning a spot on the All-Star Five. There were also places for Ben Avraham Saraf, Neoklis Avdalas and Mohamed Diakite.
Meanwhile, France claimed the final spot on the podium as they defeated Greece 65-46 as they dominated the middle periods. Noa Essengue top scored with 17 points and also had 6 steals as France outscored their opponents 47-21 in the second and third quarters.
Israel secured a top-five finish as Ben Avraham Saraf and Ory Yair combined for 51 points in their 89-75 triumph over Italy, while Slovenia eased to a 67-46 win against Turkey to take 7th place.
David Mirkovic fired in 30 points as Montenegro defeated Latvia 64-54 in the 9-10 Classification Round with Poland edging out hosts North Macedonia 71-68 to secure an 11th place finish.
In the battle for Division A survival, Serbia overcame Croatia in a 70-63 victory with Miroslav Bogdanovic contributing 16 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists, while Savo Drezgic posted 14 points, 8 assists and 7 steals.
Netherlands avoided 16th spot with a 70-55 success over Denmark, but both sides will be playing in Division B next summer along with Croatia.