Del Pino named MVP for title winners Spain, leads All-Star Five

SKOPJE (North Macedonia) - Guillermo Del Pino added a major piece of hardware for his trophy case as he was named MVP after guiding Spain to the title at the FIBA U16 European Championship 2023.

Del Pino scored 22 points to go with 3 assists and 2 steals in Spain's 77-68 win over Italy in the Final. For the tournament, the point guard compiled 14.6 points, 1.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.9 steals. 

He becomes the third consecutive Spanish player to win the MVP of the event following Ruben Dominiguez in 2019 and Mario Saint-Supery in 2022 - even though Spain finished second.

Del Pino headlined the All-Star Five, which included his Spanish teammate Gildas Gimenez, Italy star Maikcol Perez, Akram Naji from third-placed finishers France as well as Arturas Butajevas from Lithuania.

Gimenez was contained to 5 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals in the Final, but had averages of 14.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.9 steals per game for the tournament.

Perez was also limited in the Final as he tallied 10 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals but also 6 turnovers in the loss. Still, he just missed out on averaging a double-double with 12.7 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.7 steals and 0.9 blocks.

Naji was an outstanding all-rounder with 15.0 points, 3.6 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.1 steals as France took third place, while Butajevas could not help Lithuania beat France in the Third Place Game despite 23 points and 14 rebounds - finishing with 15.6 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.3 blocks per game.

FIBA