ANADIA, Portugal - Illinois State University rising sophomore Elijah Clarance and his U20 Swedish National Team teammates toppled weekend host Portugal 82-75; however, fell to Israel and the Netherlands.
In the weekend opener against Israel, a 73-63 loss on June 29, Clarance scored 21 points, making 7-of-12 shots from the field, and 3-of-4 from long range. He also pulled down four rebounds with two blocks and an assist.
A day later against Portugal, Clarance scored 25 points as he was 10-of-16 overall from the field and 3-of-7 from beyond the arc. He pulled down a team-high-tying six rebounds while dishing out four assists and grabbing six steals. The six steals are the second-most in a Swedish U20 game in the country's history.
In the weekend finale against the Dutch, Clarance was held to an international friendly-low nine points, as he hit 3-of-13 shots from the field, and 3-of-4 from the charity stripe. He added a steal and two rebounds in the nine-point loss to the Netherlands.
Through his five games, Clarance is averaging 22.0 points per game, most on the team, as well as leading the team with 13 steals and tied for the team lead with two blocked shots. He has also dished out 2.4 assists per game (second on the team), with 3.8 rebounds per game (third on team). He has made 38.7 percent of his long-range tries (12-for-31), and 41-of-82 (50 percent) overall from the field.Â
Sweden has three remaining friendly games scheduled, July 9 and 10 at Estonia, and a final FIBAÂ European Championships prep game against championships host Germany on July 12.Â
The FIBAÂ U20 European Championships open on July 14 against Italy with games against Iceland (July 15) and Serbia (July 16) also on the schedule.Â
