Baltic Duel in Northern Italy: Latvia U18 to Face Estonia
The Latvian U18 basketball team, after losing to Italy (67-89), will play Estonia in the second group game of the European Championship. Estonia also lost to Spain (61-87) in their opener. Both teams have split their previous meetings this year in the Baltic Cup.
Latvia's U18 juniors lost their first game at the European Championship in Italy to the tournament hosts. Italy pulled away in the fourth quarter, securing a 89-67 win. Rihards Čerņevskis led Latvia with 22 points, hitting six three-pointers, while Raivo Kudrjavcevs added 14 points. Edgars Lieķis contributed 7 points and 6 rebounds.
Estonia fell to Spain 87-61 in their opening match, trailing by only five at halftime (35-30). Rasmus Vukss, who signed with Bigbank/Kalev this summer, scored 14 points for Estonia, and Romans Avdejevs posted a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. However, Estonia's top prospect Stens Adamsons from the Kaunas Žalgiris system went scoreless (0-7 from the field) and committed five fouls in nearly 12 minutes.
The two Baltic teams have met twice this year. Less than ten days ago, Estonia won 73-66 in the Baltic Cup in Kaunas, while earlier in the year in Tallinn, Latvia prevailed 78-58. In that earlier game, Čerņevskis scored 14 points for Latvia.
Latvia is without top 2008-born talents Ričards Aizpurs and Gunārs Grīnvalds, who have joined their colleges for summer training camps. On Monday, Latvia will conclude the group stage against Spain at 21:30 Latvian time. The round of 16 opponent will come from Group C (Germany, Slovenia, Lithuania, or Bulgaria). The top five finishers (or six if host Czech Republic places among them) will qualify for next year's U19 World Cup.
