U18 FC Bayern Munich remained alive in race for a place in the semifinals of the ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Qualifying Tournament - Marko Ivkovic Belgrade by beating U18 Zemun Belgrade 65-53. Nelson Weidemann collected 21 points and 10 rebounds while Vladimir Pinchuk picked up 15 points and 12 rebounds as Bayern improved to 1-1 in Group B. Noah Kandem added 11 points and 9 rebounds in the victory. Bayern finishes its Group B play with winner-takes-all clash against U18 Partizan Belgrade for a place in the semifinals. Zemun is eliminated at 0-2 despite Aleksa Zaric, Mateja Todoric and Marko Kosic all scoring 11 points while Pavle Milajloski chipped in 6 points, 12 rebounds and 3 assists.

Weidemann opened the scoring for Bayern and Pinchuk made it 4-0. Zemun struggled offensively out of the gate and didn’t score until Aleksa Kojadinovic’s basket at the 7:12 minute mark. However, Milajloski followed with a three-ball to give Zemun its first lead 4-5, before back-to-back scores from Nikola Kovacevic extended the lead to 4-11. Weidemann snapped a scoreless streak of almost 5 minutes before Kosic knocked down a three-ball for Zemun, and Zaric scored to make it 10-16, and the gap was 11-16 after 10 minutes. Tim Handt and Daniel Gebray got Bayern to within 15-16 as Zemun didn’t score in the second quarter until another Kosic triple nearly 4 minutes into the period to make it 15-19. Gebray added two more baskets to even the game and scores from Weidemann, Aaron Kayser and Pinchuk put Bayern ahead 25-20. Todoric’s three-point play trimmed the deficit, but Pinchuk and Weidemann combined for the final 6 points as Bayern was leading 31-23 at intermission.

Bayern kept Zemun scoreless for the first 3 minutes of the second half and jumped ahead 36-23 on Kandem’s basket. Milajloski’s score snapped the drought but the Serbian team failed to score in the next 2 minutes and Weidemann’s triple made it 39-25. Bayern failed to score in the next 3 minutes and Zaric and Kosic drained long balls as Zemun got to within 39-33. Jannick Jebens ended the streak and Weidemann moved the gap to 43-34. The deficit was down to 43-38 after 30 minutes as Todoric hit the final 4 points of the quarter. Weidemann opened the fourth with a triple and Kandem pushed the margin to 48-39. After Zemun trimmed the lead to 5 points, Kandem made it 54-43 with 5 minutes to play. Jebens’ fast break layup started an 11-1 Bayern surge over nearly 4 minutes to lead 65-46 with a little over a minute to play, sealing the outcome.