Israel's cadet national team lost 78:75 to Germany
The cadet national team succumbed to the Germans in the round of 16 of the European Championship, despite a comeback in the final quarter. Rotem Ben-David led with 22 points, but it was not enough for a win.
The Israel cadet national team (under 16) lost this evening, Tuesday, 78:75 to Germany in the round of 16 of the European Championship. The team led by Guy Kaplan tried to return to the game time and again, and even narrowed the gap in significant parts of the match, but failed to complete the turnaround. Following the loss, Israel will move to the 9–16 placement games and will fight to remain in Division A. Tomorrow, Wednesday, the team will meet Italy.
Germany started the game in a storm, as three consecutive three-pointers gave them a quick 11:1 lead, forcing Guy Kaplan to call a timeout in the first few minutes. Israel woke up later and Rotem Ben-David led the comeback with 10 points in the first quarter. Together with Itay Kedem and Nitzan Klein, the team managed to narrow the gap, but at the end of the first quarter Germany still led 29:25.
In the second quarter, Israel continued the momentum. Maor Sela found Omer Zvi in the corner for a three-pointer, and Yanai Lachmanovich added a steal that ended in two easy points, on the way to a turnaround and a first Israeli lead, 35:34, with 5:02 minutes left to halftime. The game remained close and the lead changed sides, but several good defensive actions by the Germans stopped the Israeli momentum. Germany went to halftime with a 45:40 lead.
At the start of the second half, Germany took advantage of softness in the Israeli defense to generate points easily and reopen a significant gap. A basket and a foul increased the lead to 57:47. Israel tried to stay in the picture through the free-throw line, and two accurate shots by Omer Solomon reduced the gap to 61:55. Yanai Lachmanovich and Itay Kedem continued to keep Israel in the game, and the team finished the third quarter trailing by only 59:64.
However, the last quarter started badly for Israel. A 7:0 run by Germany put them up 71:59 and forced Kaplan to take another timeout. The team struggled greatly to produce field goals, but five consecutive points from the free-throw line narrowed the gap to 72:64, five minutes to the end. Ido Ziv stopped a streak of about eight minutes without an Israeli field goal with a big three-pointer, which reduced the difference to only five. Later, Itay Kedem scored a big basket at the end of the shot clock and set it at 77:73, with 1:41 minutes left on the clock. Israel received additional opportunities to return to the game, but failed to take advantage of them. Rotem Ben-David still had a chance to equalize with a three-pointer at the buzzer, but his shot was short.
Scorers for Israel: Rotem Ben-David 22 points (4 of 10 from three), Yanai Lachmanovich 15 points and 6 steals, Itay Kedem 14 points and 12 rebounds, Ido Ziv 8, Maor Sela 6 and 4 rebounds, Nitzan Klein and Omer Zvi 3 each, Ilay Saruya and Omer Solomon 2 each.
