Sports posted Jul 22, 2019 @ 12:45pm by John Luke Kieper

TRU basketball recruit makes Portuguese U18 National Team

It is safe to say the TRU WolfPack men's basketball team is getting a stud in Fredrico Martins.

The 6'1" guard who plays for Estoril Basket Clube is set to represent Portugal in Romania for the European "B" Championships.

<who> Photo Credit: TRU

Portugal begins to play on Friday when they take on Belarus. In addition to Belarus, Portugal is in a division with Austria, Hungary, Kosovo, and Sweden.

“He has played quite well so far, being their leading scorer in a couple of games in that previous tournament and one in Luxemburg," said WolfPack head coach Scott Clark. "It is great for him but also great for us. We are getting a guy who has been going in two-a-day- practices with his national team. He has been playing in meaningful games and getting meaningful minutes. It is always beneficial when your players can get some great training in the offseason.”

Clark believes Martins’ experience at the European championships will help ease his transition to USPORT and the WolfPack.

"It is high-level play. The rules we play are FIBA which are the same we play. The European 'B' championships will be comparable to Canadian University basketball. We’ve had athletes from Ukraine. We are expecting Fredrico to have the same easy transition.”

The rest of the group stage continues until July 31st when playoffs begin.

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