On the shores of the Aegean, in Izmir, the third most populous city in Turkey, founded by the Greeks more than 5,000 years ago, a group of Spanish teenagers won the U-18 European Basketball Championship this Sunday against the host team (61-68 ).
In the Mustafa Kemal Atatürk pavilion, with more than 6,000 local fans, noisy, angry throats and red flags in the wind, Spain has won with authority, dominating from start to finish, although with a final scare, led by the intimidation of Izan Almansa (14 points, 15 rebounds, three steals, two blocks), MVP of the championship, and Rafa Villar's shooting accuracy (20 points, five assists).
A few days before the Eurobasket of the definitive transition in the absolute, already without the Gasol brothers, the training categories of the Spanish team have accredited this summer a generational change that invites optimism: gold in the European sub-20 men's and women's, and silver in the men's and women's U-17 World Cups, second only to the United States.
In the U-18 European Championship, Spain already beat the hosts in the first phase, although, like today, not without suffering (64-56).
That day, Turkey started erratically, scoring a single point in the first quarter.
Today, with the lesson learned and the videos studied, the group led by Fikret Doğan has been able to recover and, clearer of ideas, scored 14 goals before the first break.
They did not, of course, count on the 22 from Spain, who ruled the game from the start with a volatile income, although always higher than five points.
📹 A moment that will remain with us forever ❤️
CHAMPIONS of Europe and qualified for the World Cup 👊
#U18M 🇪🇸 #SomosEquipo pic.twitter.com/LovlzM6e2u
– Basketball Spain (@BaloncestoESP) August 7, 2022
Two days earlier, in the semifinal, Spain had erased an incapable Serbia from the map, reduced to just 38 points when their previous negative mark was 68. There, Izan Almansa, immeasurable throughout the tournament, added 21 points, 12 rebounds and two steals -- man of the game, a designation he's grown accustomed to.
The young Murcian insider, a new member of the Overtime Elite academy —an American project to empower young promises who aspire to play in the NBA—, was designated MVP of the U-17 World Cup less than a month ago, when Spain, always rocky , ended up kneeling in the fight for the title against the power of the United States.
In Izmir, running the second act of the final, already on the way to rest, Spain raised the rent to ten, a psychological mattress, a slab for the Turkish impetus;
they even reached the maximum advantage of the game so far (12 points), but the final acceleration of the locals, boosted by Kerem Konan's inside game, closed the gap just before halftime: 31-36.
Izan Almansa, protected by Dani Miret, sat on the bench while the Turks, with the clear slogan of charging him with fouls, cheered their faces.
The tactic of the host team to stop the MVP of Spain: Samet Yigitoglu, a tall tower, 216 centimeters of bones that, despite everything, did not flow before the dance of movements, always intelligent, of the Murcian center.
The Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, filled to the brim.
On the way back from the changing rooms, somewhat cold, it was Spain who decided to raise the level after several minutes of low play.
Dani Miret's group linked good defenses with a great offensive skill and, led by the intimidation of Izan Almansa and the direction of Rafa Villar, who resolved spaces in each play while punishing from the outside, managed to set the difference in double figures , an irremediable evil for the locals.
Or so it seemed.
Already in the last quarter, after several plays of local success, the nerves of Spain threatened to throw overboard everything sown so far.
It was one minute from the conclusion, when the Turkish team, buoyed by a lit stand, threatened to close the gap, even equalize the game, Rafa Villar raised his inspiration to the maximum power and scored a distant triple that, although well defended, sentenced the meeting, the final and the championship.
Point and end.
Shattered hopes for the Turkish pavilion, now muted.
Despite everything, honor for Turkey, the first team to endorse 60 points to Spain and a great alternative to a team that, as in the rest of the training categories played in recent weeks, has set out to destroy everything.
After the final whistle, Jorge Garbajosa, president of the Spanish Basketball Federation (FEB), celebrated after yet another success in the lower categories: "Our training will allow Spain to continue to have a relevant place in world basketball."
In short, a summer to frame.
match statistics
Turkey 61, Spain 68 (14-22, 17-14, 8-15, 22-17)
Turkey
: B. Buyuktuncel (8), A. Sivas (2), K. Efeoglu (3), T. Yildizoglu (2), and S. Yigitoglu (5), O. Cengiz (12), E. Deniz, H. Mestoglu (9), E. Buyukcangaz (10), B. Cal, E. Demirel, K. Konan (10).
Spain
: R. Villar (20), J. Rodríguez (6), S. Garuba (7), E. Pinedo (6), I. Almansa (14), N. Cebrián (8), A. Moreno (3) , M. Iglesias (2), L. García (2), D. Gómez, J. Tachyn, V. Onuetu.
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