Germany handle Finland to capture Division B title; Belgium finish third

SOFIA (Bulgaria) - Germany culminated the FIBA U16 European Championship, Division B tournament with an impressive showing to win Saturday's Final, 100-72, over Finland.

The game was back-and-forth in the first few minutes of the first quarter until Germany grabbed a lead and ran with it for the rest of the night.

The champions used a balanced attack to come away with their first gold medal at this event since 2008, led by Declan Duru (16 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals), Keenan Garner (16 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 7-of-7 FG), Christian Anderson (15 points, 4 assists) and Eric Reibe (14 points, 6 rebounds).

Finland 's duo of Elmeri Abbey (17 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 steals) and Olavi Suutela (18 points, 6 rebounds) combined to score 35 of the team's total points.

Belgium claimed the final spot on the podium with an 81-61 wire-to-wire success against hosts Bulgaria in the Third-Place Game, as the Belgians got several solid performances.

Feie Tallir nearly missed a triple-double as he finished with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 11 assists, while Terence Kekenbosch scored a game-high 18 points off the bench and shot 6-of-12 from the field and 5-of-10 from three-point. Elliot Emwionkpa also recorded a double-double of his own with 15 points and 14 rebounds.

Iceland managed to finish in the top five after winning a high-scoring affair with Bosnia and Herzegovina, 96-91, while Sweden handled Austria with ease, 91-71, to finish in 7th place.

Portugal eased past Great Britain 82-52 for a 9th place finish and Switzerland claimed 11th place with an 84-71 victory over Georgia. Hungary came from 15 points down to edge out Ukraine 82-79, while Romania outlasted Czech Republic in overtime 83-75. Norway also snuck past Estonia 66-64 in another overtime game to claim the 17th spot.

There was an 88-60 victory for Slovakia over Luxembourg in the 19-20 Classification Game, while Ireland took care of Cyprus 75-55 in the battle to avoid finishing in last place.

Final Standings

1. Germany
2. Finland
3. Belgium
4. Bulgaria
5. Iceland
6. Bosnia and Herzegovina
7. Sweden
8. Austria
9. Portugal
10. Great Britain
11. Switzerland
12. Georgia
13. Hungary
14. Ukraine
15. Romania
16. Czech Republic
17. Norway
18. Estonia
19. Slovakia
20. Luxembourg
21. Ireland
22. Cyprus

FIBA