Reply With Quote
This tournament has led me to learn the very interesting history of these two cities- which from what I can gather are across the border from one another in Slovenia and Italy.
Day 2 win number 2, this time agianst the french...
Group A: Slovenia Outsmart France // 07 July 2007
For the second straight day, Jan Mocnik made two late free throws to lead co-hosts Slovenia to a victory at the U20 European Championship Men, this time beating France 84-78 on Saturday to remain perfect at 2-0 in Group A.
Mocnik made two free throws with 12 seconds remaining to give Slovenia an 82-78 lead just a day after his two foul shots with 6.4 seconds brought victory against reigning champions Serbia.
"He was quiet in himself and he made the shots for the second straight game. But one game he can win, another someone else can win for us," said Slovenia coach Miro Alilovic of Mocnik.
"But today we won with good defence in the second half - our zone defence. That decided the game."
Slovenia frustrated France's outside shooters, allowing them to make just two of 22 three-pointers. Alilovic's defence also limited the French to just seven assists for the game while getting to the charity line much more often, 26-of-38 to 18-of-23 for the French.
"This is a big success for Slovenian basketball. Before the European Championship we had the aim of going into the Qualifying Round with only one loss, so we've already achieved our goal," Alilovic added.
Dejan Mlakar led five Slovenia players in double figures scoring with 18 points. Mocnik had 17 points while Gasper Vidmar added 14, Jaka Klobucar 12 and Matej Krusic chipped in 10 off the bench.
The French were led by 20 points from Cheikh Ibrahima Koma with Aurelien Salmon scoring 12 and Aldo Curti and Martin Le Pellec each hitting for 10.
The teams were even throughout the first half, with Slovenia ahead 21-17 after one period and 41-40 at half-time. The co-hosts began pulling away in the third period, opening a nine-point lead 64-53 after three quarters.
Mocnik's lay-up with 6:12 made it 70-59 for the biggest lead of the game. The French found their way back into the game with Salmon hitting a three-pointer with 38 seconds left and Nando De Colo's three foul shots with 21 seconds to make it 80-78.
That set up Mocnik's heroics and Aaron Cel missed a three-point attempt with five seconds left and Mlakar finished the game with a lay-up at the buzzer.
The French are now 1-1 ahead of their Sunday showdown with Serbia, who were playing Hungary in the late game in Group A. Slovenia play against Hungary on Sunday.
http://www.fibaeurope-u20men.com/en/...articleMode=on
stats: http://www.fibaeurope-u20men.com/en/...ID=5500-A-4-2&
This tournament has led me to learn the very interesting history of these two cities- which from what I can gather are across the border from one another in Slovenia and Italy.
There's not much history. After ww2, Gorizia (or Gorica for Slovenians) stayed under Italy, so Slovenians decided to build a new (nova) one.
Slovenia Use Event to Work Out Future Stars // 08 July 2007
Slovenian youth coaches used the U20 European Championship Men compe ion to work out some of the country's future stars with the 31st annual Slovenia national team camp which drew to a close on Saturday in Nova Gorica.
Some 180 players between the ages of 13 and 17 took part in the seven day event, which was capped off with an All-Star game featuring the best 18 1993-born players at the camp, 12 of whom will then be selected to represent Slovenia at a tournament later this summer.
"The goal is so that the children can learn to love the game and learn about it and meet new friends," said Matic Vidic, who is one of the 30 coaches on hand.
Vidic served as Slovenia's coach at the 2006 UMCOR U18 European Championship as well as head coach of the U16 team in 2004.
He also helped the Slovenians to the 2000 U20 European Championship crown in FYROM on the team that included Sani Becirovic, Bostjan Nachbar and Smiljan Pavic and beat Israel 66-65 in the final.
The current Skofja Loka first division club coach Vidic said he could see 10 or 12 of the 180 players who could eventually advance to Slovenian senior national team, given expected development at the club level and staying injury-free.
"This is a chance to watch for them for the future and see who they develop over the next couple of years," Vidic said.
This is the largest number of participating players - some of whom are from Italy and Croatia - in the history of the event.
And the youngsters had their future idols directly in front of them, as they dribbled around cut-outs of players such as national team stars Jaka Lakovic, Radoslav Nestorvic and Becirovic during the skills compe ion.
Besides the skills event, the players also competed for prizes including mobile phones, basketballs and t-shirts in a three-on-three tournament as well as three-point and free throw compe ions. The players practiced three times a day during the camp for seven hours on the court.
As a further highlight, nearly all of the 180 players were in attendance for Slovenia's game Saturday evening against France.
Third win for Slovenia... 3-0
Group A: Slovenia Top, Serbia Take Second From France // 08 July 2007
Dragan Labovic and Milos Teodosic combined for 50 points as reigning champions Serbia outlasted a resilent France side 96-81 on Sunday, securing second place in Group A of the U20 European Championship Men.
The game was closer than the final score indicated. France were trailing just 81-76 with 2:27 remaining but Serbia used a 12-2 late run to pull away.
Vlada Vukoicic's Serbs, who finished Group A with a 2-1 record, led by 16 points - 68-52 - with 2:46 in the third before the French went on a 21-7 run to play within 75-73 on Judith Marc's dunk with 4:58 left in the game.
Nikola Dragovic sandwiched three-pointers around an Aurelien Salmon free throw for an 81-74 bulge with 3:27 to play.
That was Dragovic's strongest phase of the game, but it was Labovic and Teodosic who controlled much of the game for Serbia. Each scored 12 points in leading the Serbs to a 26-20 first quarter lead.
Labovic finished the first half with 23 points and Teodosic had 17 points and five assists with Serbia going to the locker-room with a 50-44 advantage. Nando De Colo did everything he could against the Serb attack, scoring 22 of his 31 points in the first half.
The start of the second half belonged to Serbia, who saw Dragovic and Vladimir Stamic combine for 12 straight Serbian points in a 14-2 run out of the break - and a 64-48 lead.
Aaron Cel scored seven of his eight points in the French push spanning the third and fourth quarters.
But Cel and Aldo Curti both missed three-pointers in the final 1:14 of the game, allowing the Serbs to eventually pull away for good down the stretch.
Labovic ended with 31 points and six rebounds while Teodosic had 19 points and 10 assists for Serbia. Dragovic chipped in 15 and Marko Djurkovic had 14 points and nine rebounds.
Marc added 11 points for the French, who finished 1-2 for third place in the group.
Serbia and France will be joined in the Qualifying Round by co-hosts Slovenia.
The co-hosts Slovenia finished off their Group A stage undefeated in three games after a comfortable 69-56 victory over Hungary.
The game was played in the Italian co-hosting city Gorizia while the Italians played on Sunday in Nova Gorica in Slovenia.
Gasper Vidmar led the way for Slovenia with 19 points and nine rebounds while Emir Preldzic added 15 points.
Hungary, who were led by 14 points from Kornel Kiss, lost all three games in their group and face relegation to Division B in the Classification Games.
Slovenia led 21-17 after 10 minutes and 37-24 at half-time. The co-hosts turned up the offensive machine in the third period, leading 62-38 going into the fourth.
http://www.fibaeurope-u20men.com/en/...articleMode=on
stats: http://www.fibaeurope-u20men.com/en/...ID=5500-A-6-3&
AWSOME!
this is how this 2 million nation will stay near the top of the NT and club basketball in the future
as many things are ty and unorganised.... young player development rocks here
respect to the "stars" that showed up for the young ballas
You`re a bit too optimistic I think...
Wow- Good job Slovenia.
My computer has been giving me all sorts of problems, thus the late props.
I am borrowing the comp at my work now- home internet is still down.
Anyway. go team!
And happy belated birthday, Beno!
On the actual day, I left him a message on his my space but forgot to make him a thread here.Sorry B!
Slovenia 96 - 84 Lithuania
Slovenia Better Lithuania To Go 3-0 // 10 July 2007
Gasper Vidmar and Dejan Mlakar combined for 43 points to lead co-hosts Slovenia to a comfortable 96-84 victory over Lithuania on Tuesday to remain undefeated in Group E of the U20 European Championship Men.
Vidmar's 22 points and Mlakar's 21 led five Slovenians in double figures while Jan Mocnik added 18 points and 10 assists.
The 2004 champions were never really threatened after falling behind early 7-0 in front of the home fans in Nova Gorica.
Miro Alilovic's team, who improved to 3-0 in the group, led 27-19 after the first period and 52-45 at half-time.
Lithuanian Vilmantas Dilys converted a three-point play to cut the deficit to 64-60 with four minutes to play in the third, but Slovenia pushed the lead back up to 12 points (74-62) and were ahead 74-66 going into the fourth.
Paulius Ivanauskas drained a three-pointer for a five-point game early in the fourth (76-71) only to watch the Slovenians again pull away with a 12-3 run for an 88-74 lead with 3:17 to play.
Lithuania, who were paced by 21 points and five assists from Ivanauskas, would not get closer to than eight points the rest of the way.
Linas Salkus's team dropped to 0-3 and they cannot reach Saturday's semi-finals. They next face France on Wednesday.
Slovenia face Turkey on Wednesday, knowing a victory could secure their spot in the semis.
http://www.fibaeurope-u20men.com/en/...articleMode=on
stats: http://www.fibaeurope-u20men.com/en/...ID=5501-E-2-1&
Another win. 82-74 again Turkey. 5 wins, and still not in the semi finals. We have to beat Russia, or lose for no more than 3 points (not sure why). Both hard.
Slovenia Tame Fighting Turkey // 11 July 2007
A balanced Slovenia remained undefeated at the U20 European Championship Men with an 82-74 victory over Turkey on Wednesday, keeping alive their excellent chances of advancing to the semi-finals.
Five Slovenians scored in double figures, led by 18 points from Jaka Klobucar while Jan Mocnik added 12 points and seven assists for the leaders of Group E.
Miro Alilovic's team improved to 4-0 in the group and 5-0 overall in the championship.
The 2000 and 2004 le-holders Slovenia face Russia on Thursday knowing they can afford a loss by three points against the Russians and still reach Saturday's semis.
Emir Preldzic scored 16 points for Slovenia, Dejan Mlakar added 14 and Gasper Vidmar chipped in 10.
Turkey play-maker Mehmet Yagmur led all scorers with 22 points while adding six rebounds and five assists. But his 11 turnovers were one more than the entire Slovenian team committed in the game.
Onat Akis added 14 points for Turkey, who dropped to 1-3 in the group and will face France on Thursday to determine who finishes in fourth place in the group.
Slovenia led 18-14 after one period and 40-36 at half-time. Yagmur continually fought his way into the lane and helped Turkey pull ahead 58-55 going into the fourth quarter.
Slovenia were only ahead 70-67 with three minutes to play, but Mlakar drained a three-pointer and Preldzic hit a running hook to open a 75-67 lead.
And Mocnik iced the game with four free throws in the fainl 24 seconds.
http://www.fibaeurope-u20men.com/en/...articleMode=on
stats: http://www.fibaeurope-u20men.com/en/...ID=5501-E-5-2&
Local Hero Mocnik Enjoying The Spotlight // 12 July 2007
Slovenian fans giving their national team the extra push at the U20 European Championship Men at Nova Gorica may be cheering just a bit louder for Jan Mocnik.
Not only has the play-maker secured three victories with big free throws down the stretch, but Mocnik is also a local guy flourishing in the international spotlight.
Mocnik's free throws with 10 seconds gave Slovenia an 80-78 win over reigning champions Serbia in their opening game.
A day later, the 20-year-old extended a lead to four points with two free throws with 11 seconds to play, securing Slovenia an 84-78 success of France.
And in Slovenia's last two victories over Lithuania and Turkey, Mocnik has collected 18 points and 10 assists and 12 points and seven assists, respectively. Against the Turks, he also drained four free throws in the final 52 seconds.
Mocnik is slowly gaining a reputation for stepping up big time in clutch situations.
"He took the experience from the first game and turned it into confidence and you see that now. But he is a player who likes to have the ball in his hands at the end of the game," said a Slovenian team official about Mocnik.
The 1.76m guard himself says it's just a matter of hard work - that he really doesn't have ice running through his veins.
"This is because of good preparation - mentally and physically. Of course it's a lot of practice too," Mocnik said.
"I just want to give the team as much as I can. Making big plays is the only way to make success, and this is the plan for the following games too."
He has averaged 13.2 points, 6.8 assists and 1.6 rebounds while making 77 percent of his free throws in Slovenia's first five games of the Championship.
For Mocnik, it's just special performing for the Slovenian fans after four years of being away from the national team, saying: "It's a nice feeling with the fans who are really our sixth man on the court. It's great they're coming out in such big numbers."
And it's all the more meaningful for Mocnik that the games are being played in Nova Gorica since he is from the nearby small village Sempeter Pri Gorici.
"My friends are here, and that is a great feeling and motivates me to play as well as possible.
And they really have a big influence in my success here," added Mocnik, who even plays his club games with second division side Nova Gorica at the OS Milojke Strukelj arena.
But he doesn't yet want to think about leading Slovenia to their third U20 gold medal after les in 2000 and 2004.
"It would be a really great success for all of us. But we can only go step by step and not think too far," he said.
Mocnik did, however, say he wouldn't mind it at all if his U20 showing helped him land a job with a bigger club.
"My wish is to improve myself and maybe go to a bigger club at the highest level," said Mocnik, who before last season played three years with 1A club Kraski Zidar Sezana - all three campaigns with his 24-year-old brother Rok.
"But I get so much pleasure from basketball and the future will decide itself."
http://www.fibaeurope-u20men.com/en/...articleMode=on
Serbia beat Russia, so there is a possible 3-way tie if Russia beats Slovenia and Serbia wins. Only two teams go to semis from each of the two groups (Italy and spain will go from the other).
We lost... But this is kind of BS system. There should be quarter-finals.
Oh and what was Vilfan talking about Sani thinking of not playing for the NT? We are weak at SF and SG, and now we`ll be even weaker at shooting guard. If this happens I think Dragic and Capin make it. Samo Udrih isn`t better than them.
So if Sani out, S. Udrih our, there`s only one player to leave at home. It`s either Vidmar or Zagorac. My guess is it`s Zagorac.
poor coaching, poor subs ution pattern.
why can't our teams get a coach that is actually capable of geting the best out of them?
Sesok.
So was the first lost on Friday the 13th? Can't tell from your post times.
No, it was on Thursday.
Well I tried.
Russia Break Slovenia Hearts // 12 July 2007
There will not be a semi-final or final between the co-hosts Italy and Slovenia after Russia knocked off the Slovenians 63-55 to book their spot in Saturday's semi-finals of the U20 European Championship Men.
Russia's defence held Slovenia scoreless over the final five possessions and forced 23 turnovers in the game while Petr Gubanov provided a crucial offensive spark off the bench for the victory in the final game in Group E.
Russia finished second in the group with a 4-1 record and could have overtaken 4-1 Serbia on goal difference had Artur Urazmanov made a three-pointer in the waning seconds instead of dribbling out the clock.
Andrey Maltsev's Russian side will now face Spain in Saturday's semi-finals with Serbia taking on Italy in the other.
Slovenia picked the worst time to suffer their first defeat of the tournament after five straight victories as 19 points by Emir Preldzic and 12 points and 14 rebounds by Gasper Vidmar were not enough.
Russia started strong in the game and built up an 8-2 lead in the first three minutes. Maltsev's troops started lighting it up from the outside with four three-pointers in grabbing an 18-12 lead.
Gubanov rattled off six straight points in bringing Russia to within 20-18 after one period.
Russia's offensive struggles continued in the second quarter with just one basket over the next eight possessions, watching Slovenia push their advantage to 30-20 midway through the second on Preldzic's three-pointer.
Alexey Shved answered with back-to-back three-pointers and long range bombs from Maxim Sheleketo and Andrey Vorontsevich at the buzzer put Russia ahead 33-32 at the break.
After a combined 24 turnovers in the first half, both teams took better care of the ball and neither team could open a cushion with both teams leading by four points as the quarter ended with Russia ahead 51-47.
Vorontsevich put back an offensive rebound with 2:02 left to give Russia a 60-55 lead.
With 50 seconds remaining, Maxim Krivosheev blocked Mlakar's lay-up attempt and Shved was sent to the free throw line with 21 seconds left.
Shved made one and Vorontsevich rebounded the second miss, with Slovenia again sending Shved to the charity stripe. This time, he made both shots to push the lead to 63-55 with 14 seconds left.
Pavel Sergeev blocked Jan Mocnik's three-point attempt with six seconds remaining, and Urazmanov dribbled out the clock without knowing that another basket would have given Russia the better goal average over Serbia.
A crying Urazmanov had to be consoled by his coach after the final mistake.
Gubanov led Russia with 12 points while Shved and Vorontsevich each scored 11 points.
http://www.fibaeurope-u20men.com/en/...articleMode=on
stats: http://www.fibaeurope-u20men.com/en/...ID=5501-E-9-3&
---------------------------
The sad part is this could be our only loss of the tournament and we won't even win a medal.
This makes no sense.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
