Estonia, Serbia, Sweden roll into Quarter-Finals in push for promotion

TBILISI (Georgia) - The race for promotion is heating up at the FIBA U20 European Championship, Division B as the Quarter-Finals matchups were confirmed on Wednesday.

Three teams remain unbeaten as Estonia, Serbia and Sweden won their respective groups with 4-0 records, while Bulgaria came out on top in a three-way tie that saw Ireland miss out on a place in the last eight.

Estonia finished with a perfect 4-0 record in Group A having opened with an 85-83 victory over Iceland which would prove decisive. Kasper Suurorg finished with 18 points, 10 assists and 7 steals in the opening success as his side then powered through, including an emphatic 60-point win over Romania, who finished in third at 2-2.

Iceland had bounced back from defeat in their first game to record a narrow 78-76 success against the Netherlands before beating Romania and Luxembourg to advance with three successive victories.

Group B saw Sweden come through some close battles to make it four wins from four as they defeated North Macedonia 92-90 - behind a tournament-high 29 points from Felix Brostrom - and Austria 73-72 to wrap up top spot on Tuesday. 

North Macedonia denied the hosts Georgia a place in the Quarter-Finals as they claimed a decisive 76-73 triumph on the final day of Group Phase action on Wednesday to secure second place - overturning a 14-point deficit in the process.

Serbia are the leading scorers in the competition at just under 100 points per game as they also cemented their place in the Quarter-Finals ahead of the final day of action. They amassed 228 points across their opening two games before holding off Finland 74-68 on Sunday.

The runners-up spot in Group D went to Finland as they ensured there was no drama in their final game to ease past Albania 77-53 in the battle for second with 11 players on the scoresheet for the victors.

Bulgaria await Finland in the Quarter-Finals after they finished up as winners of Group C, despite losing 75-72 to Ireland on Wednesday. It was not enough for Ireland to make it into the top two as they were left to rue a 72-59 loss against Latvia, who had to settle for second having been beaten 72-64 by Bulgaria in the opening game of the group.

Quarter-Finals pairings (Friday, July 22):

Estonia v North Macedonia
Serbia v Latvia
Sweden v Iceland
Bulgaria v Finland

The Classification Games 9-16 also take place on Friday as well as the Classification Group 17-19.

FIBA