Israeli youth coast into hoops semifinals

The future of Israeli basketball is looking extremely bright after the under-20 national team defeated Iceland 74-54 on Thursday to set up a meeting with France in the semifinals of the European Championship in Crete, Greece, on Saturday.

Israel, guided by coach Oded Katash, improved to 5-0 in the tournament, winning all three of its games in Group C and beating Italy 79-71 in the round of 16 before dominating Iceland.

The blue-and-white will be playing in the semis of the under-20 championships for the first time since 2005.

The France roster, which includes players from the team that won the under-18 Europeans last summer, ISRAEL GUARD Tamir Blatt continued his excellent play for the under-20 national team yesterday, leading the blue-and-white to a 74-54 win over Iceland with 15 points, seven rebounds and six assists. remained perfect in the tournament with a resounding 86-67 win over a strong Serbia side in the quarterfinals.

“We are all really excited,” said Katash, who believes that at least three of his players will go on to reach Israel’s senior roster.

“The players keep surprising me so hopefully they can continue to do so in the semis. France is of a completely different class to Iceland and we will be up against different size and intensity.”

Israel was led once more on Thursday by Tamir Blatt, son of coach David Blatt, who finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

Blatt, who played for Hapoel Tel Aviv last season before joining Hapoel Holon earlier this month, is averaging 18.4 points per game in the tournament, good enough for third overall. Israel’s Yuval Zoosman, who was held to 11 points on Thursday, is ranked sixth with an average of 17.4 points.

Blatt also leads the tournament in assists, averaging 10.0 per game.

Israel is among the leaders in several offensive stats, being ranked second in points per game (85.6), first in field goal percentage (47.7%) and first in assists (19.0).

Katash has built a balanced team in which any player seems capable of stepping up when required, with six players averaging at least 8.0 points per game.

Ariel Navon was the player who made an unexpected contribution on Thursday, scoring 15 points after failing to reach double figures in the first four games.

“The key to our victory is that we always stick together no matter what,” said Navon. “We are having fun both on and off the court and that has led us to success.”