Mega rallies to beat Zvezda 80-82, reach ANGT Finals

U18 Mega SoccerBet Belgrade came back from 19 points down to knock off city rival U18 Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade 80-82 and take first place at the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Belgrade, thereby locking up a ticket to the ANGT Finals. Nikola Jovic poured in 32 points to go with 12 rebounds, 7 assists and 11 fouls drawn for an index rating of 41 for Mega, which trailed 51-32 early in the second half. Nikola Djurisic collected 17 points and 7 rebounds while both Radovan Kompirovac and Andrija Vucurovic added 11 points in the win. Mega, which took first place at the ANGT Belgrade for a second time following 2019, has also reached the ANGT Championship Game in 2017 and 2019. The 2014 U18 continental champion Zvezda has now failed to win its host event for three straight seasons. Ognjen Matovic led the way for Zvezda with 23 points, Nikola Saranovic had 19 points and Filip Brankovic contributed 15 points and 10 rebounds in the defeat.

Saranovic two early baskets gave Zvezda a 6-0 lead. It took more than 2 minutes for Mega to finally score through Djurisic before a triple by Matovic made it 9-2. Matovic added six more points and the Zvezda lead was 17-8. Jovic scored just the second basket for Mega to make it 17-11. After Jovic's next score cut it to 19-15, Saranovic drained a triple. Jovic answered with a three-point play, nevertheless, Zvezda led 24-18 after 10 minutes. Aleksandar Topalovic came off the Zvezda bench for the first four points of the second quarter and Nikola Topic extended the cushion to 30-18. Djurisic's free throws after more than 1 minute finally got Mega on the board only to see Saranovic drain a triple for a 33-20 Zvezda advantage. Mega's defense was able to shut down the host side and the team put together a 1-8 run over nearly 5 minutes to close within 34-28. Saranovic came up with a three-point play and Zvezda closed the first half on a 9-2 run to lead 46-32 at intermission.

Zvezda had the better start out of the locker room with the first five points for a 51-32 cushion. Jovic and Djurisic combined for seven points in getting Mega to within 53-40 and it was 63-49 before Jovic added seven more points and the margin was down to 65-56. Zvezda finished the third quarter up 68-59. After Kompirovic hit the first four points of the fourth quarter and trimmed the deficit to 68-63, Saranovic converted a layup and Ognjen Vukas drained a triple to re-establish a double-digit lead, 73-63, for Zvezda. Kompirovic added five more points and Djurisic completed a three-point play after two offensive rebounds to tie the game 73-73 with under 5 minutes to play. Mega pulled ahead on Jovic's layup to make it 75-77 only to see Vladimir Pavlovic drain a triple at the other end. Vucurovic punched back from long range and Mega came up with two defensive stops before Jovic's putback made it 78-82 with 33 seconds to play. Brankovic got one score back and Djurisic was charged for traveling with 14 seconds remaining only to get saved by Oleksandr Kobzystyi grabbing a steal.