Latvia U18 boys start Baltic Cup with loss to Estonia
Latvia's U18 basketball team began the Baltic Cup in Kaunas with a 66:73 defeat against Estonia on Sunday.
Coached by Sandis Buškevics, the Latvian U18 national team opened the Baltic Cup tournament in Kaunas with a loss, falling 66:73 to Estonia. They trailed from the first half, which ended 25:42. In the second half, they managed to cut the deficit, especially with a 13-0 run in the final minutes, but could not complete the comeback.
Captain Rihards Čerņevskis and Rets Veinbergs led Latvia with 14 points each, with Veinbergs also grabbing six rebounds. Roberts Rotčenkovs added nine points, while Ralfs Mūrnieks contributed eight points and six assists. For Estonia, Kaunas "Žalgiris" youth product Stens Adamsons was the top scorer with 12 points and five rebounds.
Before the Baltic Cup, Latvia played several friendlies: at home they lost to Israel (65:73) and Turkey (71:78) but beat Georgia (82:67). Last week in Madrid, they lost to Serbia (58:65) and Spain (68:69) and defeated Lithuania (73:60).
Tomorrow, Latvia will face Poland, and on Sunday they play Lithuania. These games are the final preparations before the U18 European Championship, which will be held in Trentino from July 25 to August 2. Latvia is in Group D with Italy, Estonia, and Spain. Earlier it was reported that two potential leaders, Ričards Aizpurs and Gunārs Grīnvalds, will not help the team this summer due to commitments at US universities.
