The European Qualifiers for World Championship Men U23 are on!

After being postponed twice, the European Qualifiers for World Championship Men U23 have started today in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy! Seven are the participating nations. Turkey, Germany, and Israel secured their first victories today, while Spain will play their first match in the competition tomorrow morning.

ITALY – TURKEY 48-56

The European Qualifiers for World Championship Men U23 started with the Italian national team competing against Turkey, current U22 European Champions and 2017 U23 World Championship silver medallist. After a close game in the first 7 minutes of the match, Turkey took the lead thanks to 7 points made by Mahmut Açikgöz. With a 2-points layup made by Arda Albayrak, the Turkish national team was able to close the first quarter with a score of 8-16. The second quarter saw Turkey building a comfortable led with a partial of 10-19, closing the first quarter at 20-35. Italy found new energy in the second half of the game but not enough to overcome Turkey, that was able to keep the gap from the opponent between 10 and 15 points in the third and in most of the last quarter. Mattia Scandolaro was able to reduce the gap to 8 with a 2-points shot at 1.40 minutes from the end of the game. Two more points were made from the Turkish team, followed by another 2-points layup made by Italy, leading Turkey to close the game at 48-56 and securing their first victory.

Leaders

Mahmut Açikgöz (TUR): 21 points and 10 total rebounds

Mücahit Günaydin (TUR): 7 assists

Full Statistics: http://bit.ly/statsMenU23_game1

GERMANY – POLAND 63-41

Germany led most of the game against Poland securing their first victory in the European Qualifiers Men U23. Thomas Reier and Alexander Budde led the team scoring in total 19 and 13 points respectively. After creating a first gap of 8 points at the end of the first half (score of 29-21), the German team kept increasing the distance from the opponent, closing the third quarter at 44-30. With a leading Krzysztof Kozaryna, Poland tried to close the gap until the last seconds. Germany ultimately closed the match at 63-41.

Leaders

Krzysztof Kozaryna (POL): 20 points

Alexander Budde (GER): 10 total bounds

Bastian Kolb (GER): 3 assists

Full Statistics: http://bit.ly/statsMenU23_game2

FRANCE – ISRAEL 56-58

Overtime for the last game of the day! After a tie (6-6) three minutes from the start of the game, France took the lead reaching a score of 19-10 at the end of the first quarter. The Israeli team did not let the opponent keep the created gap and was able to close the first half with a tie of 30-30. The third quarter saw France taking the lead again and closing it at 45-38. This did not let the Israeli team down, who brought the game back to a tie at the end of the fourth quarter leading to a point-to-point overtime. Israel, led by Amit Vigoda, finally closed the game at 56-58 and secured the first victory.

Leaders

Manuel Gomez (FRA): 20 points

Mamady Traore (FRA): 20 total rebounds

Amit Vigoda (ISR): 7 assists

Full Statistics: http://bit.ly/statsMenU23_game3