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By: Arye Green
Israel’s under-20 national basketball team bested Spain 92:84 to win the European Championship twice running. Making it sweeter is that the victory took place before the home crowd of 3,400 in Tel Aviv.
It’s the third year in a row that the Israeli team has been in the final. Last year, Israel’s youth team won the Championship for the first time in its history and successfully defended its title this year.
The Israeli team hosted the championship in Tel-Aviv, after winning last year. The championship featured many tight games, and the fans enjoyed an excellent show of basketball throughout the season.
Most Valuable Player honors went to Deni Avdija, who put up 23 points with 7 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Avdija, signed to play for professional team Maccabi Tel Aviv, is said to be a good prospect for the NBA.
Yam Madar, still an unknown outside of Israel, also had an excellent game, scoring 17 points and 8 assists. Ynet says if he turns out to be a star this tournament will mark a milestone in his career. “He started the tournament as someone marked for success in our league, and finished it in the notebooks of scouts for the NBA,” Ynet‘s sports reporter wrote.
Yam Madar also had an excellent game, scoring 17 points and 8 assists in the victory.
Spain is considered an excellent team and didn’t lose once in the tournament until the final. It won its games by an average of 14 points and it never finished a halftime down, including in the final game where it finished tied with Israel (42:42) at the midpoint.
The Israeli team made it to the final after beating France on Saturday (81-70). The Israelis also beat Lithuania (94-78), Montenegro (88-69), Ukraine (93-74) and Italy (85-75).
(TPS)
