Mega breaks Zvedza’s streak, wins ANGT Belgrade

U18 Mega Bemax Belgrade snapped U18 Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade’s streak of consecutive Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Belgrade victories with a 63-73 triumph to book its ticket to the ANGT Finals. Aleksandar Langovic led the way with 18 points and 11 rebounds and Marko Andric added 13 points for Mega, which will join ANGT Valencia winner U18 Valencia Basket, ANGT Munich winner U18 Real Madrid and ANGT Kaunas victor U18 Zalgiris Kaunas in competing at the finals during the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four Vitoria-Gasteiz in May. Mega reached the ANGT Finals for the fourth straight season and was the competition's runner-up in 2017. The 2014 continental champion Zvezda suffered its first loss at the ANGT Belgrade since the 2010-11 season when it lost to U18 Beovuk 72. Vukasin Masic and Lazar Zivanovic both scored 12 points and Stevan Karapandzic had 11 points for Zvezda, which had won 38 straight games over that stretch.

The game was tight early on with Marko Kljajevic scoring 5 points and Vladan Music 4 for Mega, which led 8-11. Lazar Vasic answered with a three-pointer and a second three drew Zvezda within 15-17. Mega got a three-point play from Mihailo Musikic to lead 17-22 after 10 minutes. Zvezda used three-pointers to stay close with Vasic, Nemanja Popovic and Zivanovic all hitting from long range to make it 28-29. Langovic was able to pick up two baskets in an 0-7 spurt as Mega nosed ahead 28-36. The advantage was 31-38 at the break. Langovic started the second half with a three-pointer off the glass as the lead grew to double digits 31-41. A Marko Brekic three-pointer pushed the advantage to 33-46 and it was 35-48 before Zvezda held Mega without a basket for 4 and a half minutes and Zivanovic and Stevan Karapandzic knocked down threes in a 13-2 run to pull within 48-50. The scoreboard showed 50-53 after 30 minutes. Masic converted a three-point play to start the fourth quarter and knotted the game at 53-53. But Mega punched right back with a 0-12 run including three-pointers from Brekic and Andric to go up 53-65. Karapandzic was able to get the deficit down to 59-67, but Langovic countered with two more baskets for a 59-71 lead that all but decided the game and gave Mega the ticket to Vitoria-Gasteiz.