U20 MEN DIVISION B

Hosts Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia and Israel are celebrating in Sofia after reaching the Semi-Finals of the U20 European Championship Division B and clinching promotion to Division A.

The Israelis edged Belgium 69-66 on Thursday evening to clinch a spot in the last four of the U20 European Championship Division B.

Martin Kríz had a double-double to help the Czecsh past the British

Or Solomon had 16 points, including a go-ahead three-ball with 36 seconds to go for Israel as they finished second to Bulgaria in Group E.

Solomon also grabbed 15 rebounds, while Bar Timor poured in a team-high 20 points.

Oz Blayzer was terrific as well for Israel, scoring 14 points and pulling down 14 rebounds.

Israel finished 2-1 in the group.

The Belgians fell to 1-2, despite an extraordinary performance by Elias Lasisi.

The 1.92m small forward connected on all eight of his attempts from long range and scored a game-high 34 points.

Lasisi's confidence had been soaring because in Belgium's previous game against Bulgaria, he made five of eight shots from behind the arc.

Bulgaria are also 2-1 in Group E and assured of joining next year's 20-team Division A after defeating Poland earlier in the day, 78-70.

Pavlin Ivanov had one of the great offensive showings of the tournament, burying five of seven shots from the arc en route to a game-high 35 points.

Mateusz Ponitka hit a three-pointer for a 65-62 Polish lead with 4:05 to go when Bulgaria's Dimitar Dimitrov answered with a three to pull Bulgaria level.

Ivanov then stroked a jumper and Georgi Boyanov followed with a three-pointer to put the Bulgarians ahead by five.

Twice Poland got to within two points but Bulgaria held on, much to the delight of the 1,200-strong home crowd.

Polish duo Tomasz Gielo and Ponitka had 20 points apiece and the latter also pulled down a game-high 12 boards but their team fell to 1-2 in Group E.

The Czech Republic stormed into the Semi-Finals as winners of Group F.

They improved to 3-0 after a 91-75 drubbing of Great Britain.

Jaromír Bohacík led the way with 24 points and Martin Kríz had 21 along with 10 boards.

The defeat dropped the Brits to 1-2 - the same record as Croatia and Finland.

Croatia hammered Finland, 94-69, and thus won a goal differential tie-breaker with the Finns and Britain and advanced to the Semi-Finals as the second-place team from Group F.

In Classification Round games, Rafael Wildner poured in 21 points for Portugal as they defeated Hungary, 61-55.

Vitali Liutych had another big offensive explosion for Belarus, scoring 33 points as his team overcame Switzerland 89-78.

In other game, Austria beat the Netherlands, 64-61.

Maximilian Hopfgartner had 23 points and a go-ahead jumper with 3:51 to go for the Austrians.