Finland and Germany earn promotion, set up clash in Final

SOFIA (Bulgaria) - Finland and Germany have secured their promotion to Division A and will now meet in the Final at the FIBA U16 European Championship, Division B to see who will be crowned champion.

In the first Semi-Final on Friday, Finland were able to pull out a narrow 81-76 win over hosts Bulgaria behind their one-two punch of Olavi Suutela and Elmeri Abbey.

Suutela recorded his third double-double of the tournament with 21 points and 15 rebounds along with 3 assists and 3 blocks, while Abbey scored 20 points and knocked down the go-ahead three-pointer that broke the tie and gave Finland the lead for good with 3:32 left in the fourth quarter.

Bulgaria's leading scorer Aleksandar Gavalyugov dropped 32 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals in defeat, as they will now play in the Third-Place Game.

In the second Semi-Final, Germany came out on top over Belgium, 95-79. Germany trailed by as many as nine points in the first quarter, but quickly erased that deficit with a 12-0 run that spanned across the end of the first quarter into the second quarter. They never looked back after that.

Jonas Zilinskas led Germany with 16 points and 9 rebounds on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting from the field. Zilinskas was one of seven players for Germany to score in double figures.

Feie Tallir's all-around game of 13 points, 4 rebounds, 10 assists and 3 steals wasn't enough for Belgium, as Germany were just too balanced throughout the whole game. Belgium will face Bulgaria next in the Third-Place Game.

In the 5-8 Classification Games, Iceland defeated Sweden in the battle of Nordic countries, 92-76, thanks to 32 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists from Lars Bragason, while Bosnia and Herzegovina defeated Austria 103-95 behind Bakir Djedovic, who did a little bit of everything and recorded a double-double with 23 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 blocks.

In the 9-12 Classification Games, Portugal got past Switzerland 72-62 and Great Britain handled Georgia 63-47.

In the 13-16 Classification Games, Ukraine took down Czech Republic 83-75 and Hungary downed Romania 74-56 after trailing after the first quarter.

Meanwhile, in the 17-22 Classification Groups, Estonia comfortably beat Luxembourg 91-62 in Group E and Norway edged past Slovakia 66-62 in Group F. 

FIBA