Israel in youth competitions in Europe

[frodoborg]

Today U20 Israeli National team opens European championship in Division B. The target is clear - to return to Division A. In the preliminary round Israel is scheduled to play against Hungary, Georgia, and Sweden. Top players on our squad:
Jacob Cohen - 210, F/C, from Davidson, who had a wonderful season in NCAA, scoring 13.3 ppg, and grabbing 5.1 rpg. He was great this summer, one of the best scorers, and rebounders.
Carmel Bouchman (F, 206) and Nimrod Tishman (PG, 197) both return from very unsuccessful year in colleges. But despite the failure in USA, we are still talking about 2 of the top players from their generation. Both played in Maccabi TA youth team. Both are expected to join the A league teams in Israel next season.
Daniel Tamir (C, 208) - the younger brother of Amit Tamir.
Ben Reis (F, 202) - played some major minutes in Bnei HaSharon last season.
Tal Karpelesz (SF, 1.95).

[Billy Bounce]

Yea, today's game against Sweden is @14:30 Israeli time

No TV, but we're lucky to have txt-based PBP : http://www.fibaeurope-u20men.com/enDivB/default.asp

[Billy Bounce]

Israel 67-71 Sweden

The key-moment : 3-rd quarter , Israeli guards lose a ball in every freaking possession , Swedes on the other hand , made a nice series of 3pts out of Israeli TOs :5/5 to -15

Then our NT made a few signs of waking up , cutting the gap to -4 , just to allow Swedes 2 easy jump-shots: -8 with 1-2 min to go ...

Good points: the team isn't broken easily , solid game of Jacob Cohen -> 16 pts

Bad points: no team-play , awful ball-handling -> 8/17 A/TO , terrible defense, especially @ perimeter 11 ! 3pts conceded , no leader -> Tishman woke up only @ beginning of 4th quarter

Does anybody have any idea why Carmel Bouchman played only for 3 min ?

[Czarkazem13]

Huh, didn't know that Jacob Cohen played for the Israeli U-20 National Team...

[frodoborg]

Tishman woke up only @ beginning of 4th quarter

Does anybody have any idea why Carmel Bouchman played only for 3 min ?

Seems that Nimrod doesn't possess too much leadership qualities. I also think that the year in USA made some damage.

[Czarkazem13]

Good article on Jacob Cohen:

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/sports/basketball-shooting-star-of-david-son-1.302034

[Billy Bounce]

1q: Georgia 14:19 Israel ( 13 out of 19 belong to Jacob Cohen )
2q: Georgia 42:41 Israel ( 21 out of 41 by J. Cohen )

It took Gino only one game to realize that Cohen is the best offensive option available .

Yet again guards' perimeter defense sucks : Georgians shoot 3pts at free will with 6/14 ( 42.8 % ) jumping from 17% , they shoot in first game against Hungary

So far, it looks like Moshiah had came to Israel U20 NT. Judging from the name, he is descended from King David and his name is Jacob

[the_black_planet]

Cohen with 29 and 3rd quarter has yet to end!Good posibilities to finish with 40!

[Billy Bounce]

Final: Israel 88-81 Georgia

J. Cohen : 34 pts 10/13 2pts 3/6 3pts 5/6 FT 5 Off.+ 4 Def. Rebounds 1 steal

Last 4 min : the score 75-74 to Geogia, Karpelesz with foul+1 and J.Cohen ( who else, if not him ) with a clutch three-pointer to make it 75-80. Then it was a comedy : Israeli guards with stupid TOs and immediate fouls , Georgians with a bunch of missed FTs & 3 pointers

To sum it up:a pyrrhic victory for Israel , we need a monster game of J.Cohen & some luck to beat the weakest team is the group.

I don't see a way Israel U20 NT will return to Division A this year , luckily we aren't fighting against re-delegation to Division C

[Czarkazem13]

Guess it was a good thing to get Cohen, guess ya'll should of tried for Zach Rosen and Corbin Moore too.

[Billy Bounce]

Israel 86-78 Hungary

Epic game , Hungarians found an antidote for Cohen : tall fella called Morgan who blocked anything moving under the rim , so despite bad 3pts shooting, Hungarians made it 45 - 58 with 16 min to go. Then Cohen desperately tried to save the motherland with couple of three-pointers - nope, but right here Yotam Shiran started to fight for every possible ball - missing lay-ups, grabbing his own rebounds and then missing the next lay-ups . Somehow he succeeded to start a chain reaction & a step by step Israel NT got back to 67 - 69 with 8 min to go. Brand clutch triple of J. Cohen & a consequent lay-up out of offensive rebound changed the tide.

Bright sides: J. Cohen in all aspects , Shiran deserves special mention for a fighting spirit, Tishman is back to old himself - dishing 6 assists with 0 TOs.

Dark sides: Carmel Bouchman isn't playing at all, Ben Reis so far disappoints big way : he was important player in Bney Ha-Sharon all season long, but somehow his NT performance is nothing to write about

[frodoborg]

Epic? Good thing you don't exaggerate.
Having old Tishman was good thing, Cohen needs some help.
Now Israel will play against Bulgaria, Finland, and Portugal. Israel and Portugal has advanced with 1 victory, Sweden, and Bulgaria - with 2. In order to advance to 1-4, Israel has to beat Bulgaria. But first we can't fail today - vs. Portugal (13:30 CET).

[Billy Bounce]

Epic in sense of a tension, not in a sense of a sport achievement

Meantime the game started: 5-4 to Portugal , interesting what Portuguese will invent to stop 2.10 Cohen with 2.02-3 centers of Portugal NT.

[Billy Bounce]

interesting what Portuguese will invent to stop 2.10 Cohen with 2.02-3 centers of Portugal NT.

They shoot three-pointers and foul under the rim . Interesting tactics

At least rebounds are ours

[Billy Bounce]

Israel 64 - 57 Portugal

Once again J. Cohen with a tip-in to seal the outcome . This game will go into history books as a win without making a single three pointer 0/12

Tomorrow is a critical game vs. Bulgaria : a win means to be in good position for a final four, a loss - another year in Division B .