Reigning champion U18 Zalgiris Kaunas booked its spot in the final of the Euroleague Basketball ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Qualifying Tournament – Kaunas by easing past U18 Cibona Zagreb 104-68. Isaiah Hartenstein collected 24 points, 11 rebounds, 2 steals and 5 blocks and Gytis Masiulis added 24 points and 11 rebounds as Zalgiris clinched its second straight victory to lock up first place in Group A. Arnas Velicka added 11 points and 11 assists for Zalgiris, which will play the winner of Group B in Sunday’s final at Zalgirio Arena. Cibona dropped to 1-1 in the group despite Karlo Uljarevic scoring 22 points with 5 rebounds and 6 assists. Josip Popic and Ivan Tvrtko Majic both scored 12 points in defeat.

Hartenstein scored the first 3 points of the game as Zalgiris went ahead 5-0. Antonio Jularic knocked down a three-pointer for Cibona’s first points. Masiulis hit 2 baskets and Mantvydas Zukauskas drained a three-pointer as the host side quickly raced ahead 12-3. Popic answered with 4 straight points, but Zalgiris continued to score with Justinas Marcinkevicius making it 18-9. Velicka and Hartenstein both hit three-pointers for Zalgiris to push the advantage into double digits and Dziugas Slavinskas’s 4 free throws made it 30-16. Majic’s three-ball trimmed the deficit to 30-19 after 10 minutes. Uljarevic started the second quarter with a three as the gap dropped to 8 points. Zalgiris kept Cibona scoreless for almost four minutes and Hartenstein scored 5 points in a 14-0 spurt to go up 48-26. Popic ended the run, but Masiulis collected 4 free throws, a three-pointer and a put-back as the advantage grew to 61-32. The host side led 61-33 at halftime.

Masiulis opened the second half with 3 more points to up the lead to 64-33. Cibona came back with the next 6 points and Majic nailed three three-pointers before Uljarevic’s 2 free throws to trim the gap to 71-52 with three minutes left in the third quarter. Hartenstein knocked down a three-ball for Zalgiris and Zalgiris used a 6-0 spurt to push back ahead 80-55. The margin was 80-57 after 30 minutes. Zalgiris ended all doubts right away to start the fourth quarter with a 10-3 spurt to move ahead 90-60 with six minutes left. Hartenstein continued to dominate play with 4 more points to push the lead to 98-65 with three minutes to go and Cibona did not get closer than 31 points the rest of the way.