Stellazzurra edges group winner Rytas

U18 Rytas Vilnius will have a chance to repeat as winner of the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Kaunas despite losing to U18 Stellazzurra Rome 84-82 in the final Group B game. Stellazzurra needed a double-digit win to pass Rytas but had to make due with a bit of revenge after Rytas and Stellazzurra faced off twice last season - in the ANGT Kaunas first-place game and the ANGT Finals Championship Game - and Rytas won both times. Nicola Giordano and Matteo Visintin both scored 16 points for Stellazzurra while Yannick Nzosa had 15 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 5 blocks and Leo Menalo chipped in 15 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Stellazzurra leader Abramo Pene played his first game of the tournament after missing the first two contests with a fever that kept him sick back at the team hotel and scored 6 points. Azoulas Tubelis collected 26 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals for Rytas, which also won the continental title last season and now has a date with Lithuanian arch-rival and host side U18 Zalgiris Kaunas in Sunday’s first-place game. Daniel Baslyk added 15 points, Mantas Rubstavicius had 14 and Marek Blazevic picked up 12 points in the loss, which dropped Rytas to 2-1 in the group but took first place on the tiebreaker. Stellazzurra will take on U18 CFBB Paris in the third-place game on Sunday.

The game went back and forth early on with five lead changes and two ties when Dut Mabor made it 11-10. After missing his first three shots, Pene scored two baskets and Menalo converted a three-point play as Stellazzura went on a 9-2 surge to lead 24-16. And the Italian side was up 26-22 after 10 minutes. After Rytas tied the game at 26-26, Giordano nailed two three-pointers for a 32-26 lead. Blazevic picked up 6 points in cutting the gap to 34-32 only to see Stellazzurra pull away again with Lorenzo Querci’s three-ball making it 48-39. Rytas was able to trim the deficit to 48-45 but trailed 52-45 at the break. Rytas knotted the game straight away with the first 7 points of the second half and moved ahead on Kasparas Jonauskas’ score to make it 55-56. Rubstavicius added a three-pointer for a 56-59 lead and the Lithuanian side led 60-63 after 30 minutes. Tubelis’ three-point play to start the fourth quarter made it 60-66 but Giordano hit a three-ball and Nzosa converted an three-point play and it was even at 69-69. Neither side could pull away by three points with Visintin doing most of the scoring for Stellazzurra and Tubelis for Rytas, which trailed 82-79. Tubelis squared the game again at 82-82 with 35 seconds but Kacper Klaczek scored the game-winning basket with 16 seconds to play as Rytas missed its final two chances. But Rytas still advanced to the first-place game.