U20. 4th place

Russia lost to Spain - 63:70 in the bronze medal game at the Sportland U20 European Championship on Sunday.

TURNING POINT: Russia went without a score during a four-minute stretch bridging the second and third quarters; they only fired three shots during that stretch because they turned the ball over six times, giving Spain all the time in the world to extend their lead from 33-28 to 46-28 and leave them with a mountain to climb the rest of the way.
STATS DON'T LIE: Russia's turnover count reached 18 in the first 22 minutes of the encounter, rendering useless their good shooting percentage (43.2% to Spain's 37% at that point); Spain could make up for their lack of accuracy by simply having more possessions and taking 17 more shots from the floor. Spain also shot 16 more free throws, as they grabbed 18 offensive rebounds and drew a foul instantly on most occasions.

Spain stepped on the podium of the U20 European Championship in 2007, following a two-year absence, and have not abandoned it since.

They won the bronze medal in Tallinn on Sunday, their seventh consecutive medal in the competition, largely to that accumulated experience that seems to get passed on like a torch from one generation of players to the next.

Spain's steely defence terrorized and suffocated Russia to keep them to just 28 points in the first half, as every other Russian possession seemed to end up in a turnover.

Russia had 15 in the first half and three more early on in the third quarter enabled Spain to grab their 16-point advantage with eight minutes left in the period.

The Iberian lead could have ballooned even further were it not for their poor shooting percentages (36.6 from the floor) but, for some reason, that 16-point gap was enough to serve as a shock to the system for the Russians.

The real Russia showed up on the court only then and chased down Spain, committing only four turnovers in the remaining 18 minutes of the game.

Moments of the game Russia - Spain

Spartak's player Artem Popov played 6,1 points average per game, he made 1,4 points per game and 0,6 rebounds per game.
Kirill Sokolov played in starting five and was on the court 18,3 minutes per game and made 2 points, 2,3 rebounds and 1,6 assists per game.