Joventut races past Estudiantes

U18 Divina Seguros Joventut Badalona will play for third place at the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Qualifier Valencia after beating U18 Movistar Estudiantes Madrid 95-69 to finish play in Group B. Aleix Haro had 19 points, 5 assists and 3 steals, Zsombor Maronka collected 17 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists, Vinicius Da Silva had 14 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks and Ferran Llorens chipped in 13 points and 6 rebounds for Joventut, which finished second in the group with a 2-1 record. Next up for the 2013 continental champion is a showdown with U18 Porsche Ludwigsburg for third place. Estudiantes was paced by 13 points from Antonio Guerrero but could not overcome 25 turnovers to finish at 1-2. Estudiantes will take on U18 FC Barcelona Lassa for fifth place on Sunday.

Maronka scored 7 points in helping Joventut open a 12-2 lead. Guerrero cut the gap to 7 points but a 6-2 spurt made it 22-9. And Joventut hit the final 5 points of the quarter and led 27-13 after 10 minutes. An Alejandro Gonzalez three-point play and two three-balls from Eduardo Manzano had Estudiantes to within 35-26. Joventut answered though from long range with Roger Marti, Da Silva and Maronka all hitting triples as the margin reached 20 points 46-26. And it was 54-32 at intermission. Joventut did not let up in the third quarter with Haro scoring 7 points and Adria Domenech converted a three-point play for a 68-37 advantage. Maronka and Haro were both on target from outside over the rest of the quarter and Joventut was up 79-47 after 30 minutes. Two treys from Gonzalez helped trim the deficit to 81-55 but Joventut did not let Estudiantes closer than 24 points the rest of the way.