U18 Divina Seguros Joventut Badalona opened its EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Torneig de Bàsquet Junior Ciutat de L’Hospitalet schedule with a hard-fought 68-72 victory over host team U18 Torrons Vicens L’Hospitalet in Group B. Eric Gonzalez led Joventut with 18 points and 9 rebounds, while Pep Busquets scored 17 points for Joventut, which next faces U18 Cedevita Zagreb in Group B. L’Hospitalet, which led by 10 points at one point, lost despite 14 points from Pablo Fontanet. The host side will take on U18 Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens in its next Group B contest.

Gonzalez scored 5 points as Joventut took a 9-11 lead, but Jose Sanchez and Carlos Rubira both knocked down three-pointers to put L’Hospitalet ahead 17-15 after 10 minutes. Victor Fernandez and Imanol Martinez came off the L’Hospitalet bench to push the lead to 31-21. Joventut worked its way back into the game - thanks also to a three-pointer from Didac Cuevas - to trail 35-31 at halftime. L’Hospitalet led for most of the third quarter until Busquets’s three-pointer made it 52-54 for Joventut. And Joventut led 54-56 after three quarters. The Joventut cushion was 56-64 with six minutes left when Rubira and Sanchez both hit 4 points in a 12-0 run for a 68-64 L’Hospitalet advantage. Joventut would not go away as Busquets and Arnau Parrado both hit from downtown to go ahead 68-70 with one minute to play. L’Hospitalet lost its last chance when Sergi Tell turned the ball over with 9 seconds to play. And Busquets iced the game with 2 foul shots with 5.8 seconds left.