{"id":11200,"date":"2018-07-22T20:11:53","date_gmt":"2018-07-22T20:11:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sportsrabbi.agpwebdesign.com\/?p=11200"},"modified":"2018-07-22T20:11:53","modified_gmt":"2018-07-22T20:11:53","slug":"israel-under-20-basketball-national-team-are-champions-of-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/israel-under-20-basketball-national-team-are-champions-of-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel Under-20 Basketball National Team are Champions of Europe!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Israel Under-20 National Basketball Team have won the FIBA U20 European Championships!<\/strong> The Blue & White under the direction of Head Coach Ariel Beit Halachmi defeated Croatia in the finals 80-66 to win Israel\u2019s first Under-20 European National Team title. Michael Brisker (19p), Miron Ruina (14p\/14r), Gil Beni (14p) and Tournament MVP Yovel Zoosman with 17 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals led the way for Israel as the Blue & White dominated the continental tournament.<\/p>\n

Israel ran out to a 45-34 halftime lead thanks to Beni\u2019s 14 points, Brisker\u2019s 8 points and Ruina\u2019s strong play on the boards with 9 rebounds. Croatia cut into the Blue & White\u2019s advantage in the 3rd quarter pulling to within 2 points, 47-45. But a Brisker 3 pointer followed by back to back buckets by Ido Shabbat and Ruina gave Israel a 54-45 lead midway through the 3rd quarter and that was all she wrote as Beit Halachmi\u2019s squad took the 14 point victory 80-66.
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FIBA.com<\/p><\/div>
\n3-Pointers<\/strong>
\n1) Amazing! What an incredible tournament for Israel<\/strong>. Not only did they dominate the opposition after a 1-point opening game loss to the host\u2019s Germany, they ran away with the championship decimating one opponent after the next. Whether it was Romania, Greece, Spain or France there has never been an Israeli team that not only won but did so in such fashion. They wanted it more, they played harder and deserved to be on the podium taking home the title. The other teams never had a chance. Israel pressured every ball, controlled the pace of play and did things their way.
\n

\"\"<\/a>

FIBA.com<\/p><\/div>
\n2) Their way was led by Head Coach Ariel Beit Halachmi<\/strong> and his upbeat, positive style of basketball. Pressure the ball handler, double team when necessary, help out and just go for it; that\u2019s the way Beit Halachmi coached this tournament and that\u2019s how he\u2019s always coached his league teams especially Hapoel Gilboa\/Galil. His style was the exact formula that was called for for this competition and his continuous encouragement from the bench pushed the team to this great accomplishment.
\n

\"\"<\/a>

FIBA.com<\/p><\/div>
\n3) The European Championships were bookended by Deni Avdija (12.7p\/6.4r) and Yovel Zoosman (14.4p\/4.7r\/3.6a\/2.3a)<\/strong> both of whom were named to the Team of the Tournament while the latter took home the MVP Award as well. Avdija, arguably the most promising player in the competition with the potential of being the next Israeli in the NBA helped the Blue & White to a fantastic start while Zoosman came in big down the stretch dominating play over the last few games to help Israel to the title. \u201cZoos\u201das his teammates call him, played with the poise of a veteran and used the experience gained with Maccabi Tel Aviv this past season to his advantage as he looked at times to be head and shoulders above all of the other players on the court.
\n

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Dov Halickman Photography<\/p><\/div>
\nOvertime<\/strong>
\nIs there a future for Israeli Basketball? After watching this tournament the answer is a resounding YES! Amiram HaLevy<\/strong>, the head of the Israel Basketball Association definitely believes so, \u201cThis is a huge day for Israeli Basketball, winning the first championship in the country\u2019s 70 years at any age group. Congratulations to the players and staff. We\u2019ve proved that there is Israeli Basketball and Israeli players. We will keep working hard to show everyone that this is the future of the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ariel Beit Halachmi<\/strong> summed up the win, \u201cNo question that this is the biggest accomplishment of my career but it\u2019s something the whole team earned. The first game against Germany was a difficult loss, but we came together with tremendous character. It\u2019s not just basketball but it was the mental side of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

MVP Yovel Zoosman<\/strong>, \u201cWe came into every game focused and when we beat Greece we realized then we could do something fantastic. I know what I can do but we play as part of a team. I don\u2019t know yet where I\u2019ll be playing next season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miron Ruina<\/strong>, \u201cWe had a great team and an amazing coach and staff. Thank God we won. There are basketball players in Israel and not just foreigners, just give us a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deni Avdija<\/strong>, \u201cIt\u2019s a great feeling. We have a great team and staff. I don\u2019t know what else to say but I have yet another tournament with the U18 side and I want to win another Gold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Brisker<\/strong>, \u201cWe all gave 150% in the games and at practice. We worked very hard to get to this point and we made history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gil Beni<\/strong>, \u201cI don’t know what to say, I have no words. I\u2019m so proud to be the captain of this team. This is a team of men and I\u2019m happy we could become the first Israel National Team Basketball Champions. The loss against Germany was tough but it pushed us to get to where we are today. I hope everyone can see what we did here for Israeli Basketball and take it to heart.\u201d
\n

\"\"<\/a>

Israel Basketball Association<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Israel Under-20 National Basketball Team have won the FIBA U20 European Championships! The Blue & White under the direction of Head Coach Ariel Beit Halachmi defeated Croatia in the finals 80-66 to win Israel\u2019s first Under-20 European National Team title. Michael Brisker (19p), Miron Ruina (14p\/14r), Gil Beni (14p) and Tournament MVP Yovel Zoosman […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":11207,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,848],"tags":[306,37,989,29,1165],"class_list":["post-11200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holy-land-hoops","category-israel-national-team-football-israel-2-holy-land-hoops","tag-basketball","tag-deni-avdija","tag-fiba","tag-israel","tag-yovel-zoosman","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nIsrael Under-20 Basketball National Team are Champions of Europe! - Sports Rabbi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/israel-under-20-basketball-national-team-are-champions-of-europe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Israel Under-20 Basketball National Team are Champions of Europe! - Sports Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Israel Under-20 National Basketball Team have won the FIBA U20 European Championships! The Blue & White under the direction of Head Coach Ariel Beit Halachmi defeated Croatia in the finals 80-66 to win Israel\u2019s first Under-20 European National Team title. 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