France's Hayes named MVP, headlines All-Star Five

PODGORICA (FIBA U16 European Championship 2017) - Killian Hayes capped off a fantastic FIBA U17 European Championship 2017 by guiding France to their third U16 European title and then picking up the MVP award, as well as headlining the tournament's All-Star Five.

Hayes led France in points (16.6), rebounds (7.0), assists (5.1) and steals (2.7) and finished second in the tournament in efficiency at 22.6 per game. The point guard collected a personal best 21 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists in France's 75-68 victory over Montenegro in the Final. Another of his signature performances was scoring 10 points in the final 5 minutes as France came back to beat Russia earlier in the tournament.

The runners-up Montenegro were represented by guard Stefan Vlahovic and power forward Bojan Tomasevic. Vlahovic averaged 16.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.6 steals while Tomasevic picked up 13.6 points, 9.0 rebounds, a tournament-best 2.1 blocks as well as 1.6 assists and 1.1 steals.

Djordje Pazin of bronze medalists Serbia had 17.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 1.6 assists to grab a spot on the All-Star Five while Matej Rudan from fourth-placed finishers Croatia averaged 17.1 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists in rounding out the list of top players from the FIBA U16 European Championship 2017.

FIBA