Scotland U18 Men @ European Championships

The Scottish U18 Men's team are away in Sarajevo at the moment, competing in the B Division of the FIBA European Championships. The team is completely inexperienced at this level, and they have done fantastically well thus far, defeating both Georgia and Romania to post a record of 2 wins and 2 losses in group play, with defeats coming versus exceptionally strong teams from the Netherlands and Montenegro. Scottish star Ali Fraser (Falkirk Fury) was, however, limited to only 9 minutes of play versus the Oranje, and, with rumours of food poisoning emanating from the Scottish camp, one must wonder what might have been given Fraser's impressive 20 point, 8 rebound & 2 block performance the previous day in the opening victory over the Georgians.

Lee Reilly (City of Edinburgh Kings) was the other star of a well-rounded team performance in the victory over Georgia, scoring 18 points, while assisting on a further 4 baskets for the team, and contributing 4 rebounds. Josh Crolley (Troon Tornadoes), and Johnny Bunyan (Falkirk Fury) were the other significant scorers for the Scots, notching 10 and 7 points respectively, with Josh snatching 8 rebounds, and Johnny 7. Pity poor Beqa Chikviladze, though, who threw in an impressive 26 points in defeat for Georgia, ably assisted by Akaki Dvalishvili, with 17 points and 7 rebounds.

The Scots bounced back from defeat versus the Netherlands in fine fashion, defeating Romania by a score of 88-77, again led by Ali Fraser, who, along with Ali MacKay (City of Edinburgh Kings), dominated under the basket for Scotland, the pair combining for 49 points (Fraser 29, MacKay 20) and 11 rebounds (Fraser 8, MacKay 3). MacKay demonstrated a cool head under pressure throughout this game, keeping his concentration to knock down 8 of his 12 foul shots. Lee Reilly was again a more than able foil for his big men, scoring 14 points to go along with his 5 rebounds, while knocking down 4 three-pointers along the way in his best shooting game of the tournament so far.

Results in group play have earned the Scots a place in the group to decide places 9-16 of the 21 team field. The Scots find themselves in Group H, along with Austria, Switzerland and Georgia, and face the two Alpine powers on the 29th and 30th of this month respectively. Austria posted a record of 6 wins and 2 losses at last year's championships, with the Swiss a 2-6 record, while the Scots have no experience at this level. Taking these statistics into account, the Scots would seem to be the underdog in this company, as they have been from the outset of the programme at the beginning of the season. The Scots have, however, shown themselves to be a dangerous team in group play, and will have a good deal of confidence in their ability to spring a surprise on their more storied opponents as they bid to improve upon what is already the most successful Scottish performance at this level.

Live play-by-play commentary of all of the games in the Championships is available here: http://www.fibaeurope-u18men.com/enDivB/default.asp

The Scots get underway versus Austria at 14:45, while their game the next day versus Switzerland tips-off at 14:00.

Scottish Fixtures and Results

23rd July: Scotland 77-61 Georgia
24th July: Scotland 59-98 Netherlands
25th July: Scotland 88-77 Romania
26th July: Scotland 44-100 Montenegro

29th July: Scotland v Austria (14:45)
30th July: Scotland v Switzerland (14:00)

Scottish Roster and Statistics

Available here:

http://www.fibaeurope-u18men.com/enDivB/default.asp?cid={E7BA731A-A812-4C5C-9C62-E987CBB10B2B}&teamID=357&compID={2248A846-FA78-40FF-B03C-54B460890F45}&season=2009&roundID=6869&