Latvia's U18 basketball team face decisive game to stay in elite division

The Latvian U18 men's basketball team will face Austria in the decisive European U18 Championship game for 13th place. Only two outcomes are possible: victory keeps Latvia in the elite division, while defeat would mean 14th place and relegation to Division B. The three lowest-ranked teams – 14th, 15th and 16th – will drop out of the top division.

Latvia avoided elimination yesterday by beating Bulgaria 87:81. It was only their second win of the tournament; the first came against Estonia (64:58). In the group stage, Latvia lost to hosts Italy (68:89) and defending champions Spain (87:92). They then fell to Slovenia (76:86) in the round of 16 and Denmark (65:68) in the 9th-place game.

Austria recorded their first win only yesterday, defeating Slovakia 75:61 in a relegation battle. Earlier, Austria lost to Lithuania (68:84), Turkey (64:90) in the quarterfinal, and in the group stage to Israel (80:84), Greece (53:81) and France (50:76).

Raivo Kudrjavcevs has been Latvia's top scorer, averaging 11.7 points, 5.2 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game. He scored 15 points and added seven assists against Bulgaria. Roberts Rotcenkovs adds an average of 10.7 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists.

Austria's leading player is Pīrss Tomsons, who averages 15 points per game and scored 22 against Slovakia. Armins Kapičs contributes 12.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.

A year ago, Austria's U18 team finished 12th at the European Championship, while Latvia reached the bronze-medal game, losing to Italy to finish fourth.

The match for 13th place starts at 14:00.