PITESTI (Romania) - Romania and Ukraine have booked their ticket to the Final of the FIBA U20 EuroBasket 2024, Division B and with it secured promotion to Division A for next summer.
Pushed on by the home fans, Romania came back from 10 points down to beat Finland 77-72 thanks to a huge 16-0 run in the fourth quarter. Finland were up 60-51 with 9 minutes to play but watched Romania reel off the next 16 points in a 20-1 surge to gain control of the game.
Dragos Lungu scored 16 points to go with 8 rebounds and 5 steals to lead the way for Romania while Tudor Somacescu added 15 points and 6 assists and Denis Badalau chipped in 13 points and 9 rebounds. Viljami Vartiainen of Finland led all scorers with 20 points.
It was a rare achievement for Romania, who will be playing in Division A in 2025 for just the third time, appearing there previously in 2008 and 2018.
Ukraine also will be playing with the top teams next summer after a great second half in a 70-58 victory over Netherlands in the other Semi-Final.
Ukraine, who were relegated from Division A in 2022, finished third in Division B last summer but could not be promoted as only two teams were relegated.
After falling behind by 11 points in the first quarter, Ukraine gave up just 25 in the final 20 minutes. Nazar Kholod scored 17 points and Kyrylo Skutyelnik added 16 points for the winners.
Netherlands will have another attempt to get back to Division A with the Third Place Game against Finland.
Finland look to return to Division A for the first time since 2016. They did finish fourth in 2022. Netherlands have only played one summer in Division A - 2010.
Final (Sunday July 21)
Romania vs Ukraine
Third Place Game (Sunday July 21)
Finland vs Netherlands
FIBA