Anything can happen in Norway’s group
Written by Arild Sandven
&ball;2 August 2022
The Norwegian U18s had to struggle to beat Kosovo, but eventually controlled their way to their second win in four EC matches. Now Wednesday’s final group stage match will be with Bulgaria.
Norway – Kosovo 59-50
In the hours after Norway’s expected victory over Kosovo came surprising results as the standings in Group B changed:
The Netherlands beat Bulgaria 70-66 and Georgia won the top game against Bosnia-Herzegovina, 79-75.
Before Wednesday’s last match against Bulgaria (19.15 Norwegian time), Norway can be number 3, 4 and 5 in the group. The five must go down in the “relegation game” for 17th to 22nd place together with Kosovo. The three and four continue to play for places 9 to 16.
Three teams with three wins?
We assume Bosnia-Herzegovina wins its last match against Kosovo (2.45pm), while the Netherlands – Georgia (12.30pm) can have a big impact on Norway’s further play in the championship.
Norway can get up to 3-2 in wins-losses, but not a quarter-final place. If the Netherlands beat Georgia early in the day and Norway beats Bulgaria, Georgia, the Netherlands and Norway all end up 3-2 – behind Bosnia-Herzegovina who get 4-1 with a win over Kosovo.
Then Norway is at minus 2 in the head-to-head table between the three (victory 74-56 over the Netherlands and loss 51-71 for Georgia = plus 18 and minus 20), while Georgia before the last game is at +20 and the Netherlands at -18 after their matches against Norway.
It means:
- Norway will be third with a win over Bulgaria, unless the Netherlands beat Georgia by between 17 and 22 points.
- Norway will be fourth with a loss to Bulgaria if the Netherlands lose to Georgia.
- Norway will be fifth with a loss to Bulgaria if the Netherlands beat Georgia.
Regardless, the Norwegian guys will know their prerequisites when they take to the pitch in Olimpia Hall in Ploiesti at 20:15 local time, 19:15 Norwegian.
If the Netherlands win early in the day, Norway will be forced to beat Bulgaria to avoid finishing fifth and having to play for places 17 to 22.
The Netherlands have lifted themselves and beat Bulgaria, but Georgia impressed against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Tuesday night and has all the motivation in the world: They will win the group with a win over the Netherlands.
In contrast to Norway, the Netherlands can come second – with a victory over Georgia and a Bulgarian victory over Norway, since the Dutch have also beaten Bulgaria.
Run away with three points
A spectacular buzzer-beating three-pointer from Fredrik Kleivdal in the second period ensured that Norway went into halftime with a 29-23 lead, and when the third period opened with another three from Eldar Alagic, Kosovo had to fight against the wind for the rest of the game.
The guys from the Balkans came in to make it 32-27, but new three-pointers from Alagic, Amar Pinjo and Bjørn Vestre sent the whites up 41-28.
Still, it never quite unraveled, Kosovo closing in with an 8-1 run at the end of the fourth period (52-47). And again it was a three-pointer from Eldar Alagic, with just one second left on the shot clock, which increased the lead and restored calm in Norway’s team.
29 percent hits
59-50 over the group’s scoreless bottom team was not too convincing, and above all it was a hard-fought victory.
– It wasn’t pretty, but we pulled it off, stated Kjetil Andresen.
– We get a lot of good chances, but don’t manage to convert that many of them. The ball just didn’t want to go up today, and we were too unstructured, thought the U18 coach.
The statistics prove him right:
Norway hit just 19 of 65 field goals, 29 percent. Fortunately, Kosovo ended up weaker, with 24. The Norwegian guys also messed it up with 25 turnovers, while the opponents had 24.
A lot was at stake, and it obviously affected both teams.
Norway’s players made many bad choices with stress, early finishes and turnovers when they had to control the game and led clearly in the fourth period.
Yngstemann became important
It actually looked a bit ugly when Kosovo was ahead 22-18 and 23-20 in the second period and Oliver Bergstad got his fourth (!) foul.
But in came Fredrik Kleivdal, who was a small match winner when Norway turned the game around. The Ullern forward distinguished himself with 7 rebounds, 5 points and 2 steals in 17 minutes. He had the buzzer-beating 3-pointer that extended Norway’s lead from 3 to 6 points at halftime and a monster block to make it 57-50 with 25 seconds left.
– Fredrik is long and quick and good at closing against a team like Kosovo, which plays so open. He is an exciting player with great potential, says coach Andresen about the team’s only 05.
Kleivdal became Norway’s most effective player, while Eldar Alagic was the top scorer with 15 points and also had 7 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 blocks.
Oliver Bergstad was also important with 7 points and 8 rebounds, but was hampered by the foul problems.
All 12 Norwegian players got on the scoring list.
Scorers Norway: Eldar Alagic 15, Oliver Bergstad 7, Christopher Dalland 6, Amar Pinjo 6, Fredrik Kleivdal 5, Bjørn Vestre 5, Aksel Borg 4, Herman Ingstad 4, Benjamin Fisher Andersen 2, Jonas Øye Hansen 2, Chieme Okeke-Nwakamma 2, Niklas Sandström 1.
Top scorer Kosovo: Bardh Istrefi 20.
U18 EC MEN DIV. B, TUESDAY:
Group A:
Denmark – Estonia 81-70, Ukraine – Ireland 102-65.
Standings (win-loss): Denmark 3-0, Ukraine 2-1, Iceland 2-1, Estonia 1-3, Ireland 0-3.
Group B:
Norway – Kosovo 59-50, Netherlands – Bulgaria 70-66, Georgia – Bosnia and Herzegovina 79-75.
The position: Georgia 3-1, Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-1, Norway 2-2, Netherlands 2-2, Bulgaria 2-2, Kosovo 0-4.
Group C:
Latvia – Hungary 64-58, Romania – Switzerland 93-52, Portugal – Slovakia (19.15)
The position: Portugal 3-0, Romania 3-1, Slovakia 2-1, Switzerland 1-3, Latvia 1-3, Hungary 1-3.
Group D:
Finland – Cyprus 92-37, Belgium – Austria 82-49.
The position: Finland 3-0, Belgium 3-1, Sweden 2-1, Austria 0-3, Cyprus 0-3.