On the final day of the 18th U14 I Feel Slovenia Ball 2024, we watched three intense matches that decided the placings from sixth to first place. In the first match of the day, Slovakia and Slovenia - Blue competed for the final fifth place. The Slovenian team had the upper hand throughout the whole match and won with a score of 67:74. The Most Efficient Player of the game was the promising Roman Kolka, who scored 22 points, 3 assists, 6 rebounds and had an efficiency of 29.
The final third place match was played between the national teams of Romania and Hungary. The Romanians controlled the game and the score in the first half, but the Hungarians came closer in the second half. Despite a tense play-off, the Romanians held on to their advantage and won with a score of 74:69. Andrei Vomir-Bizo, captain of the Romanian national team, was player of the game with 10 points, 1 assist, 14 rebounds and an efficiency of 18.
The highlight of the day was the final match between the defending champions, team Poland and team Croatia. It was a very tense and evenly contested match, with the two teams exchanging the lead throughout. In the end, the Croatians won the title with a score of 94:98. The best player of the game was the Croatian national player, Marko Volf, who scored 19 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds and had an efficiency of 34.
At the end of the tournament, we also announced the best five of the tournament, which included: Hungary's Bernat Tot, Romania's Sebastjan Lapušte, Poland's Alan Hojnacki and Croatia's Marko Volf and Roko Jerkić. In addition to naming the tournament's top five, we also awarded prizes for the tournament's best passer, best rebounder, best shooter and most valuable player.
The award for the best passer of the tournament went to Luka Ukić (HRV), who collected a total of 23 assists, averaging 4.6 assists per game. Roman Kolka (SLO) won the award for the best rebounder with 37 rebounds, averaging 9.3 rebounds per game. Roko Jerkić (HRV) was awarded the best scorer and MVP of the championship.
In the end, the teams were ranked in the following order: 1st place Croatia, 2nd place Poland, 3rd place Romania, 4th place Hungary, 5th place Slovenia Blue, 6th place Slovakia and 7th place Slovenia White.
We are proud of the 18th U14 I Feel Slovenia Ball 2024, where we saw a lot of good performances from the national teams, who showed real heart and passion for basketball on and off the court, while not forgetting the importance of "fair play". We would like to thank the national teams for their participation and all those who were present at the event. See you next year in Slovenj Gradec!