2018 Under-17 World Cup: Round of Sixteen Recap
For the losing teams there was one last chance for redemption, and for the more successful sides this was the moment when all their hard work could have been for nothing. All sixteen teams were in action on day four of the tournament, where they would all be fighting for a quarter-final spot.
Making half of all their field goal attempts, Mali led Australia for much of the first half, but behind 15 points and 14 rebounds from Luke Jackson and Kobe Williamson perfect from long range, Australia took the lead late in the second quarter and held on to it to the end.
Finishing the game with eight unanswered points, Australia booked their quarter-final spot with a 74-65 win over Mali. Meanwhile, a close knit first quarter gave way to France dominating New Zealand on the offensive end, eventually going on to win by forty points.
Serbia led Turkey by thirteen points at the end of the first quarter, but upping their defence and with 52 points in the paint, Turkey completely turned the tables on Serbia to lead by as many as 20 in the game and by 87 points to 67 at the final buzzer.
Aleksandar Langovic had 18 points and 13 rebounds in Serbia's loss, while for Turkey Fukran Haltali had a great game on defence and Alperen Sengun was the standout with 22 points and 15 total boards.
Beginning the game with a 14-0 run, Canada completely dominated Philippines - scoring 55% from the field and seeing 66 bench points, 22 of which came from Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe, who also had 11 rebounds. Gerry Abadiano had 19 for Philippines, but that hardly troubled Canada who finished with a margin of 102-62.
Dominican Republic became the first team to lead the USA during a tight first quarter, but beginning the second quarter with a twelve-point unanswered run, the Americans were soon back to their dominant ways. Emmanuel Abreu led all scorers with 19 points for the Dominican Republic, but the USA led the final scoreline by 103 to 60.
Egypt hustled hard on their offensive end, but big scoring bursts from Croatia throughout the game kept them firmly in the lead, while at the same time shutting Egypt out on defence. Ivan Perasovic topped all scorers with 22 points, helping Croatia to a 68-55 win.
Sun Haoqin led all scorers with 24 points as China’s close-range play would not be enough to combat Puerto Rico’s speed, ability to force turnovers and play in the paint, where 52 of their total 81 points came from. Harry Sosa had a double-double - 15 points, 16 total rebounds - as Puerto Rico march on to the quarter finals after dispatching China by seventeen points.
The last game of the day saw sixteen lead changes as Argentina looked to upset Montenegro, whom they led by as many as eleven points. Playing the better defence and close-range offence, Montenegro overcame a third-quarter slump to take a thirteen-point lead - their biggest in the game - at the death.
Jovan Kljajic had an amazing performance - 23 points and 16 rebounds - as Montenegro were the heart breakers in Rosario, eliminating the host nation.
After the round of sixteen, the following quarter final games were set:
USA vs Croatia
Australia vs Canada
Turkey vs France
Puerto Rico vs Montenegro
While the consolation bracket looks like this:
Dominican Republic vs Egypt
Mali vs Philippines
Serbia vs New Zealand
China vs Argentina
The Under-17 World Cup looks set to become all the more tense, competitive and unpredictable as the championship field gets narrower. Play resumes on Friday, 6th July, until then more information can be found on the official website of the tournament.
