Serbian under 18 basketball team become European champions

Serbia beat Latvia 99-80 (32-20, 22-21, 25-24, 20-25) to defend the FIBA U18 title won last year - the nation's fourth in total.

The team, lead by coach Aleksandar Bucan, includes Pavle Kuzmanovic, Altin Islamovic, Luka Cerovina, Bogdan Nedeljkovic, Marko Pecarski, Bogdan Rutesic, Zoran Paunovic, Arijan Lakic, Toma Vasiljevic, Dalibor Ilic, Uros Trifunovic, and Filip Petrusev.

The Serbian team launched the campaign with a defeat against Lithuania (87-92), to then dismantle Britain (102-71), and play a dramatic game against Montenegro, winning in overtime (97-95).

Next up was the knock-out phase - Ukraine was destroyed (121-49) in the round of 16, the quarterfinal against Germany was an uncertain affair that ended with a Serbian victory (92-86), while France, who eventually took third place in the tournament, fell in the semifinal (78-67).

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