Olimpija hands Zvezda another loss, takes fifth place

U18 Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana finished the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Belgrade in fifth place after collecting a 59-66 victory over host U18 Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade. Egor Sytnikov led the way with 20 points for Olimpija, which picked up three victories in the Serbian capital. Alen Malovcic collected 16 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks and 10 fouls drawn and Stepan Gontar added 11 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 steals in the win. The 2014 continental champion Zvezda slumped to its third loss in the competition despite Marko Mihailovic scoring 14 points and Vuk Dobrasinovic chipping in 13 points. Zvezda won the ANGT Belgrade each season from 2011 to 2018 and lost in the first-place game to U18 Mega Bemax Belgrade last season.

Sytnikov opened the game with a three-pointer for Olimpija, which then delivered a big punch with a 2-15 surge for a 6-20 lead as Gontar had a three-point play among his 7 points. Zvezda was down 8-23 after 10 minutes. Olimpija did not waste any time pulling further away in the second quarter as Nil Jovanovic, Sytnikov and Marcel Jug all drained threes in a 2-18 run for a 12-41 lead. The host side was down 19-43 at the break. A Sytnikov three-pointer had Olimpija up 21-48, but Zvezda unleashed a 17-0 run over nearly 4 minutes and cut the gap to 42-50 after 30 minutes. Dobrasinovic hit 3 free throws to make it 47-55 but Zvezda was held scoreless for 4 minutes and Sytinkov drained another triple in pushing the advantage to 47-64. Zvezda did not get closer than 9 points the rest of the way.