CFBB runs away late from Olimpija

U18 CFBB Paris held U18 Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana scoreless for the final 9:20 minutes to collect a 75-60 victory to open its Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Belgrade campaign. The two-time continental champion closed the game on a 16-0 run as Rudy Demahis led CFBB with 16 points, 7 assists and 4 steals. Brice Dessert collected 14 points and 15 rebounds and Ousmane Dieng and Armel Traore both chipped in 12 points for the winners. Olimpija was paced by Alen Malovcic with 17 points while Egor Sytnikov had 15 points and Matej Bosnjak picked up 14 points and 12 rebounds in the loss.

After Bosnjak scored four points to help Olimpija go ahead 4-7, CFBB tallied six straight points and was leading 10-7. Malovcic ended a three-minute scoreless stretch and he added a three-pointer for a 13-17 advantage. CFBB responded with a 9-1 surge and led 22-19 after 10 minutes. Dieng picked up two baskets as CFBB was still leading 33-27. But Olimpija held the French side scoreless for more than 3 minutes and Sytnikov drained back-to-back triples before Malovcic also hit from long range in a 0-12 run for a 33-39 lead. And the gap was 37-43 at intermission. After a Bosnjak trey to start the second half made it 37-46, Armel Traore scored six points and Daniel Batcho had a three-point play in an 18-4 CFBB run to pull in front 55-50. Sytnikov answered with four points at the other end and Olimpija was down 59-56 after 30 minutes. Sytnikov gave Olimpija the lead 59-60 with 9:20 minutes left but the team would not score the rest of the way. Demahis scored eight points and both Batcho and Armel Traore had four points in the game-deciding 16-0 run.