The Under-18 Israel National Team opened the European Championship with a victory over Latvia 90-86. Despite being down 43-39 at halftime, an excellent second half and especially the fourth quarter led by Ben Saraf with 31 points got the tournament started off on the right foot for Israel who face Italy in Sunday at 1:30pm.

Head Coach Sharon Avrahami’s squad didn’t start off well and went down 13-6 early on, however, points by Yaron Goldman and Tamir Gold and Rani Belaga at the buzzer cut the Latvian lead down to 19-14 after ten minutes of play.

Ariel Sela’s full-court assist for a Ben Saraf dunk reduced the Latvian lead just one point as Gold, Goldman and Saraf all scored but Latvia again opened a gap with mini-run, however, Omer Mayer halftime buzzer beater cut the score to my 43-39 going into the break.

Saraf continued to lead the Israeli attack in the third quarter and Omer Mayer’s 3-pointer gave Israel a 63-57 lead the team’s biggest advantage up to that point, but the Latvians stepped on the gas once again and managed to tie the score up at 64-64 after 30 minutes of action.

Oren Sahar hit a pair of triples to begin the final frame to give Israel a 6-point lead while Saraf continued to score at will, but Latvia cut the lead down to just a pair of points as the clock wound down, however, another bucket by Saraf and a block gave Israel the victory.

Saraf scored 31 points and added 8 assists, Omer Mayer added 12 points and 10 rebounds while Tamir Gold chipped in with 11 points in the win.

“The guys showed really good character,” Ben Saraf said after the game. “Everybody showed up in money time, shoutout to Oren Sahar who made a pair of big 3’s. I’m proud of him and of the entire team. My mindset was to share the ball with the guys, get them into the game and I was just trying to make the right play every time. I think it went well today especially in the second half.”