Fast Break

BASKETBALL

Koprivica’s team wins U20 title

Washington State University men’s basketball player Nikola Koprivica and his Serbian team captured the gold medal at the 2008 U20 European Championship on Sunday, defeating Lithuania 96-89 in the championship game at Riga, Latvia.

“It means so much to win because it takes a lot to be the European Champion,” Koprivica said. “It means even more because this is probably the last time we will all be playing together in the same age group, so it’s great to be able to take home the championship in our final competition together. I’m just so happy I played, and to be the team’s captain was a great honor.”

The champion of Group F, Serbia finished the championship with a 5-1 record, while Group E champion Lithuania dropped to 4-2 to pick up the silver. Sunday’s game was Serbia’s seventh game in 10 days, but fatigue was never an issue for the Serbians.“You never get tired when you’re playing for a championship,” Koprivica said.

“I will probably be tired tomorrow, but right now I’m not.”A native of Belgrade, Serbia, Koprivica came off the bench to score five points in 11 minutes of action. Koprivica, the lone captain of the team, added three rebounds, two assists and a steal. He hit his only 3-point attempt.

Spain defeated Turkey to capture bronze at the championship. Montenegro (fifth), Italy (sixth), France (seventh) and Ukraine (eighth) rounded out the top eight.

BASEBALL

Fan cashing in on Bonds ball

The fan who caught Barry Bonds’ record-breaking 756th home run ball last year says it has been the equivalent of a grand slam for him.

New Yorker Matt Murphy used proceeds from the roughly $752,000 sale of the sought-after ball to move into a new apartment, invest in the stock market and go into the specialty sneaker business. He and two friends are opening a Manhattan store called Solefood NYC on Friday, the Daily News reported in Sunday editions.

OLYMPICS

New Jersey band goes global

A northern New Jersey rock band is getting big airplay at the Beijing Olympics.

The Asian fusion band “Hsu-nami,” named for founder Jack Hsu, was formed at Ramapo College in Fort Lee, N.J., in 2005.

A song written by Hsu is being used at the Olympics as theme music for the Chinese men’s basketball team. It plays whenever the team enters the arena and during timeouts.

The band performed the song at an Asian festival in New York last summer. The band was noticed by an NBA official, who later became musical coordinator for the Olympics, The Record of Bergen County reported in Sunday editions.

The 25-year-old Hsu is a native of Taiwan who plays a traditional two-stringed Chinese instrument called an erhu.