After a number of close calls, Greece's 1997-born generation finally collected their long-awaited first international title by beating Turkey, 64-61, to win the 2015 U18 European Championship. In the process, Greece also ended the Turks' dreams of achieving a historic three-peat.
Vasileios Charalampopoulos took home tournament MVP honours with 23 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists in the title game while Georgios Papagiannis collected 12 points, 15 rebounds and 3 blocks for the Greeks, who won their first U18 crown since 2008.
The Greece 1997 group had lost in the Semi-Finals of the 2013 U16 European Championship, 2014 U18 European Championship and 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship - taking third in 2013 and placing fourth in the other two tournaments.
Turkey were hoping to become the first country to win three straight U18 titles since the Soviet Union claimed four in a row from 1978 to 1984. Hopes of that historic achievement were dashed whenFurkan Korkmaz missed the first of two free-throws with 0.6 seconds on the clock and Turkey down by three points.
Turkey had led by as many as 14 points but Greece fought back with the assistance of the home crowd in Volos, which went crazy when Korkmaz missed the foul shot.
Korkmaz led the Turks with 15 points, 7 rebounds, 5 steals and 4 assists. Baris Ulker added 13 points and Enes Taskiran chipped in with a dozen. But they were not enough as Turkey grabbed their third second-place result after back-to-back runners-up showings in 2004 and 2005. Turkey have finished on the podium in five of the last seven years in the U18 European Championship.
Korkmaz was named to the All-Star Five along with his team-mate Papagiannis, Edin Atic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Martynas Varnas of Lithuania.
Varnas took a spot on the podium as well with Lithuania as the Baltic country beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 74-49 to finish third. Varnas led the way with 15 points and Martynas Echodas added 14 points for the Lithuanians.
The Bosnians, who were making their debut in the top four of the tournament, lost their heart and soul Atic after just 1:22 minutes for the rest of the game to a knee injury.
In the classification games earlier in the day, Serbia locked up fifth place with an 81-70 victory overFrance. Aleksandar Aranitovic scored 18 points to lead five Serbians in double figures while Vojislav Stojanovic added 11 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds.
Spain finished on a high note by knocking off Germany, 68-64, to claim seventh place. Ramon Vila had 18 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocks while Xabier Lopez-Arosteguj scored 12 points for the winners.
Russia still have never finished worse than 10th in the competition's history with their ninth-placed showing after beating Latvia, 69-68. Igor Volkhin scored 25 points and Ilia Karpenkov had 14 points and 9 rebounds for the Russians, who led by as many as 13 points in the fourth quarter but actually trailed in the final minute before winning.
Italy finished the U18 European Championship in 11th place by beating Croatia, 73-57, as Davide Moretti's 13 points paced five Italians in double figures.
Finland survived the relegation battle and will remain in Division A after beating Montenegro, 68-64, in the 13th place game. Edon Maxhuni picked up 19 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists for the Finns.
Montenegro will go back down to Division B after two summers in the top flight.
Despite knowing they will be relegated to Division B next summer, Ukraine finished strong with a 99-91 victory in overtime over Czech Republic in the 15th Place Game with Illia Antonenko scoring 29 points.
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