The 3rd day of FIBA U17 World Championship took place in Kaunas on July 1st. The first game was thought to be little surprise since China (2-1) 59:53 edged France (1-2).

The victory was reached with impressive performance by Han De Long who had 20 points. Other two best contributors were Zhou Qi – 18 points, 7 rebounds and Zhao Juwei – 12 points.

For French side 3 players had 10 points each – they were Damien Inglis (13 rebounds), Petr Cornelie and Arthur Rozenfield (5 assists). Interesting that for Chinese team only four players were able score.

Next game was as much intensive and Australia (2-1) had a real fight till they managed to beat Czech Republic (1-2) – 63:58. At the halftime Czech’s still had the lead, but the key to Australia’s win was their successful 3rd quarter which they have won by a result 20:11.

The leader of Australia was still 15 years old Benjamin Simmons (’96), who scored 26 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and stole the ball 5 times. Dante Exum (2/12 FG) added 10, Fabijan Krslovic – 9.

Czechs were led by Adam Pechacek (18 points), Martin Peterka (16 points plus 10 rebounds) and Jiri Soula (16).

Team USA (3-0) as is usual for them had a cat-walk type game against Egypt (3-0) where easily rolled past them with a result of 111:73. Jabari Parker who is thought to be the best prospect in team had 18 points on 8/10 two-points shooting while combo guard Conner Frankamp with 18 points and 4 rebounds wasn’t worse.

Kendrick Nunn helped them with 12 points. On the opposite side scoring duties were carried by Moataz Hosny (5 blocks, 5 turnovers) – he scored 13 points while Ahmed Sayed Soliman and Walid Aly (5 rebounds) contributed with 12 points each.

The biggest scoring performance so far was made by Croatian (3-0) team, which 124:68 made fun of Korea (0-3). Seven Croatian players scored in double digits, but the best scorer in the team was Tomislav Gabric who not only grabbed 15 rebounds, but scored 21 points as well.

Marko Arapovic had 20 plus 6, Karlo Zganec 18 plus 12 plus 5 assists. In team Korea Youngjun An scored 12 points and had 6 rebounds while Nakhyeon Kim added 10.
Later one more drama of Lithuania followed – the hosts faced Spain.

In intense game the winner was known only after the overtime. What as the most shocking, It was the 3rd time in 3 games when Lithuania had to play extra time. However, Lithuania (1-2) still couldn’t beat their opponents and had a tough loss against Spain (2-1) – 83:91.

Unstoppable in the Spanish side was Agusti Sans – he scored 24 points (9/11 FGs), grabbed 4 rebounds and assisted the ball 5 times. Alberto Martin (7 assists, 5 turnovers) and Ferran Ventura were a great help, too – they scored 13 points each. The home team had offensive weapons in Ernestas Serkevicius (21 points), Haroldas Saprykinas (14) and Zydrunas Jurgutis (13 plus 5 assists).

The last game of the day was between Argentina and Canada. For both teams this game was very important, trying to qualify to the quarterfinals. However, taller and physically stronger Canada managed to win this one – 80:76.

One of Canada’s leading players was Kevin Zabo, who scored 18 points. Marial Shayok got 15 points and grabbed 8 rebounds. He made only 3 field goals of 10, though. In Argentina Gabriel Deck finished as a top scorer – 19 points and 10 rebounds. Alvaro Merlo finished with 17 plus 6 plus 6.