The under-18 team lost in Logroño in a close game that was not decided until the end (58-60)
With this defeat, the tournament will go to Lithuania, which this Saturday added its second victory against Greece, by a short 54-50
The Spanish under-18 basketball team has lost 58-60 against Italy in the second match he is playing in the Logroño tournament, where he has again made many mistakes and given too much ground to his rival and although he has been able to win, in the end it has been victim of his own haste.
The successful 2005 generation of Spanish basketball, current world runner-up (as an under-17 team) must still grow in forcefulness and mental integrity during forty minutes; or at least he must know how to adapt to different situations, such as the ones presented to him yesterday by Greece with a very dynamic foreign game, and today by Italy, with enormous physical potential.
In addition, the Spanish coach, Javier Zamora shows that these games are for what they are, to draw conclusions about players who can be “discarded” and to “take care” of others who are not physically at their best, especially their “star”, Aday Mara, who was barely 13 minutes on track today.
even with everything, Spain could win, especially because what it does have is “race” And as happened yesterday, when he found himself far behind, he put his best arguments on the floor and came back, although he could not finish it.
The first quarter was a warning for the Spanish team, which did not adapt well to the physical approach of Italy and did not easily find space to attack comfortably; In fact, something difficult to see happened to Spain in current basketball: they scored 10 points but only added one of their players, Hugo Gonzalezwhile his teammates missed up to 12 shots.
The Real Madrid player was the one who kept the type for ten minutes in which Italy, with a more “choral” game and physicist was always ahead although not by a great distance either, to finish 10-14.
But the Spanish game did not improve much in the following ten minutes, in which the dependency became Lucas Langarita (7 points) and only three other players scored, among them Hugo González and Aday Mara, who left several “brushstrokes” of his potential, but also that he is not physically at his best.
That is why Italy always went ahead, guided by Torresani (8 points) and D’Amelio (7) to reach the break with a clearer advantage (23-32).
But the “broken” greenfield to Spanish credit came in the third quarter, when the defensive imbalances exposed the team led by Javier Zamora while Italy, increasingly animated, went to its maximum income, 18 points (26-44 ).
But then the Spanish boys understood that they had to change the game and adjusted their defense enough to make their rivals nervous, who in a short time lost everything they had won before and they finished the fourth with a 48-52 that left everything open.
A three-pointer from Lagarita seven minutes from the end made it 55-54 that ended up igniting the 1,500 spectators who watched the game.
It seemed that Spain could take the game, but then the rush and the effort made before took its toll; Several of their players decided that they could extend the difference from the triple, but they did not select the shots well and Italy, with little, returned to take the initiative.
In fact, they did not lose it anymore, while Spain missed their last two possessions, one with a bad triple by Langarita and another with a ball that Day Mara did not reach.
Hugo Gonzalez (20 points) and Langarita (12) were the best in Spain, where only six players scored; in Italy, with points from 11 team members, D’Ameilio and Ferrari stayed at 9.
With this defeat, the Logroño tournament will go to Lithuania, which this Saturday has added its second victory against Greece, by a short 54-50; The Lithuanians, the only European team that defeated Spain in the U-17 World Cup, will be the Spanish team’s rivals tomorrow.