Across the world from Bender Arena, two American University basketball student-athletes found themselves on opposing sidelines, each looking to lead their respective national teams to victory in the 2009 FIBA EuroBasket Qualifying Rounds. Vlad Moldoveanu, a junior at American, finished the game with 18 points for Romania. Not to be outdone, Switzerland's Vlad Buscaglia, who played two seasons at American, netted 19 points while leading his team to an 81-69 victory.
Moldoveanu scored the game's first basket but Switzerland lead 29-9 by the end of the first quarter. Romania played hard and found its way to the basket, but by the end of the third quarter they still trailed by 14 points. Switzerland's early lead ultimately proved too difficult to overcome and the Romanians fell to the Swiss by the final score of 81-69. Switzerland finished its tournament in second place of Group B while Romania finished in fourth.
"It's great to see one of our current student-athletes and a former student-athlete have the type of success these two have had this summer in international competition," American Head Coach Jeff Jones commented. "This is a great experience for both men and will be something that they remember for the rest of their lives. We are all very proud of what they have done."
Moldoveanu made tremendous contributions to the Romanian team during the tournament, averaging 18.3 points, 8.5 rebounds and 35.5 minutes in four games. Originally from Bucharest, Romania, Moldoveanu graduated from high school at St. John's College in Maryland and went on to play at George Mason his freshman and sophomore years. He transferred to American before the second semester last season and will be eligible to compete for the Eagles following the first semester of this year.
Buscaglia, who played at American during the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons, is a native of Switzerland and is a regular on the Swiss National team. He has averaged 10.5 points in eight games during the EuroBasket Championships while playing 24.1 minutes.
Both Moldoveanu and Buscaglia were competing in the Division B qualifying rounds of the 2009 EuroBasket Championships. The qualifying rounds are played over two summers with the top teams from each division advancing to the EuroBasket Championships. Qualifying for this summer's championships began during the summer of 2008.
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